EXPO is the best Exercise for Excellence

 In my country Nigeria, ''expo" is the slang for examination malpractice. When a person gets an examination question verbatim and in correct sequence before hand, or to engage in an open-book practice as against examination rules. Yes, it means so, but this is not what I am alluding to, and it's contrary to what the subject of this post refers.

For your information, it occurs to me that the word ''expo" has various meaning in some (or many) countries of the world. Nigeria has a lot of slangs, and most high school students, particularly public high school students, have a lot of them in their head. Most of the slangs are often used in pidgin English, a popular parlance in my country of over 500 languages and 250 ethnic groups. The pidgin English unites us more than the British English (N.B: the British colonized us).

To know more about 100 and something slangs used in public high schools in Nigeria, see this page.

This morning, after attending Environmental Toxicology class, I went to the main campus, and on alighting, bumped into Sis. Beatrice with her backpack shouldered.

"Hi, Sis. Beatrice", I said flashing a smile, "You're going home?"

"No, I am going to Dorman." She said, and continued, I told you yesterday that I will be going to Dorman.

It dawned on me that she had mentioned so. Then I remembered I had told her I would like to go with her when she'd leave, the previous day. Fleetingly, I thought to myself what my mission was, at school, for the day. I brought out my To-do list and discovered that the only major thing I had planned to do that morning was, finalize the measurement of the final pH for the points of zero charge for the remaining 48 samples (You see, I had done for 24 the previous day, and then attended a Pot-Luck even organized by Adaton Baptist Church and Baptist Student Union. I chose to have some fun. I like adventure, where you not only find new people, new languages, but also new food and new aura of excitement.)

TSP: Let 'em keep their luck, I want the pot!

Taofiq, a colleague of mine who happened to have arrived with me from the class, tried to see what I had planned out for the day, and may have been astonished at what he saw. I decided I was going with Sis. Beatrice. Before we saw her, he had had the intention of going to Colvard Student Union for some edibles.

My mentor was going to Dorman Building which houses the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, to perform some greenhouse experiment for her project. Having read some papers lately, I had asked her if greenhouse experiment is synonymous with pot experiment, and she affirmed. The greenhouse experiment would help her confirm whether a specific biochar she had activated would increase yield of crops and show better characteristics in comparison with some controls, as well as other alternatives.

"Femi, we might spend up to 2 hours." She mentioned, in effect. At first, I fought between how laborious and time-consuming the work might be, but finally concluded that I wanted to learn.

 

"Prashan told me he would come with some undergrads to assist, but I do not know exactly when this would be. Regardless, let's get started."

From, transferring over 50 kilograms of soil to large containers, to homogenizing it, to segmenting it into over 25 small containers with post-treatments, to taking them into the greenhouse, to name a few steps, it was exciting yet laborious, taking us up to 3 hours or more. (And yes, Prashan and the assistants had shown up along the line.)

My motivation was that I was not not assisting for nothing. Her project is synonymous with one of mine, and going through hassles would better prepare me for a greater and easier performance when I begin. 

Expo is the best exercise for academic and research excellence, because in doing that we finish everything before we even begin.

Sis. Beatrice has once told me about Prof. Chambers who co-teaches Env Tox class, and her style of setting questions- what she looks out for in responses to questions. She has also given me insights into a number of things that have better prepared me for excellent outcomes. Working in the lab, and having her reveal what type of things I should consider when putting x by y or crossing t and dotting i have lessened a whole lot of burden that could have occurred. I have taken it upon myself to study few pages of a 2016 Biochar textbook weekly, in spite of the related articles I would read.

The steps I have so far taken have shown time and again that expo is the best exercise for academic and research excellence. And by "expo", I mean pre-exposure to a chosen undertaking or path. It is like the case of apprenticeship. To succeed, learn more, not all by yourself, but by the people who have trailed the paths or will be trailing the paths.

Expo is the best exercise for academic and research excellence, because in doing that we finish everything before we even begin.

When we rounded off the day's phase of the pot experiment, I went back to the lab to round off the pH measurement of the remaining samples for point of zero charge, and right now I am charged up for the greater things ahead.