Zainab Mohammed

Zainab Mohammed is Nigerian but currently living in Egypt. She strongly believes in equal opportunities in education regardless of gender and the importance of respecting the opinions of others.

The most important lesson she feels she has learnt growing up is the value of confidence. Confidence in our abilities and our opinions is the backbone of who we are as people. This determines the way you are viewed by those around you and the opportunities that you allow yourself to take hold of. Although there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence it is extremely important to have a firm understanding of your identity because that is the only way that it will carry across to others. Growing up you find your opinions can get swept up by the opinions of the majority, but in figuring out what you want to do first you have to figure out who you are and what you believe as an individual. Leaders are the engineers of change in their societies and leaders have to be confident in their decisions regardless of the outcome. 

For academic extracurriculars she is a member of a business and economics club with OxBright and she is currently trying to build on her programming knowledge through online courses.She also finds podcasts on various topics including global politics, philosophy and critical thinking to be fascinating. For sports she participates in swimming for leisure but also enjoys walking multiple times weekly to clear her head. Leadership activities she is involved in include being Head Girl of the Secondary School as well as her being a leader of the environmental club at her school in which she and other members have worked to raise awareness about issues such as climate change and its causes through posters and presentations. 

She is quite passionate about helping those in distress and has been involved in donation campaigns at her school including one related to the Turkiye-Syria earthquake and the Sudanese war. Her initiative to improve Girls’ education in Northern Nigeria beginning with providing sanitary kits is another way in which she is working on helping her community. These kits contain reusable sanitary towels which are made from recycled materials and can last for up to two years. 

Looking ahead, Zainab is interested in studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). She took an interest in PPE because of the broad and critical nature of the course, with the most appealing characteristic being allowing her to ask questions but also giving her the tools to answer them. She aspires to attend a highly ranked university and not only for the prestige and the connections formed, but also the high level of academic excellence that is expected of the students. In terms of a career she is quite interested in pursuing a Master’s first but then aspires to work in a field which allows for flexibility and constant development of knowledge.