With an average score of 56 out of 60, Amina Oukili finished as the top graduate in the general secondary track this school year. RTL spoke with her about her motivation, how she achieved this success, and her ambitions for the future.
Oukili completed her final year at École nationale de santé du Luxembourg (ENSA) in Strassen, focusing on health sciences. She admits she never expected to be named Luxembourg's best general secondary graduate this year.
She recalls that on the day of her graduation, her headteacher called her in the morning to tell her the news and also mentioned, almost in passing, that the press would want to talk to her. Amina said that she was "delighted, but also a little overwhelmed at first and that the news did not sink in straight away".
Oukili explains that the final year of secondary school is always stressful, but her biggest challenge was overcoming the pressure she put on herself. She explains that every time she hit her limits, she made sure not to let it get her down, and, instead, kept telling herself: "You want this, you can do this, you will do this."
She acknowledges that it is okay to have difficult moments, but equally that it is really important to keep believing in yourself and carry on.
The stress intensified towards the end of the first semester, she says, when she felt burnt out and realised she needed a break. There was also constant pressure to perform just as well in every test as she had in the last one.
However, Amina managed to avoid major sacrifices in her social life or giving up her free time altogether. She highlights the importance of finding an approach that works for each individual.
She emphasises that you have to figure out what you can manage and how quickly you can learn. In the end, she found her own rhythm, for instance, by sometimes putting something aside and then studying it twice as fast later.
Despite her commitment, Oukili did not miss out on all the fun and went out maybe two or three times a year, but certainly not to all of the traditional student free-beer parties.
Oukili's motivation stemmed from her ambition to study medicine, preferably in Dusseldorf, Germany, where she knew she would need a certain average, which always pushed her to give her best and to go the extra mile. Currently, Oukili is undertaking a mandatory three-month nursing internship at a hospital in Saarburg, a requirement for the first two years of medical studies in Germany.
In German universities, you can already complete some of the internship before starting your studies, so Oukili is trying to do two-thirds of it now. She says that this way, she will not have the added pressure during her degree.
Moreover, she sees the internship as a valuable way to gain early insight into the care sector and to build a solid foundation for her studies.
Oukili is now waiting to hear if she has been accepted in Dusseldorf. While she has not yet decided on a specialisation, she is particularly interested in neurosurgery.
However, she is keeping her options open, believing that you have to see everything first, as it could still change preferences for a specialisation later on.
Next year, thousands of students in Luxembourg's classical and general secondary tracks will face their final exams again, and Oukili has some advice for those preparing for the challenge:
Believing in yourself is the most important thing. People can say what they want, but if you do not believe in yourself, it will not work. Focus on yourself, try not to get too distracted by other things, and do not let other people's results affect you – your own performance will not change because of someone else. So, really focus on yourself.
