This special edition of the AH Young Scholar for July 2021 is to celebrate an outstanding young professional and team member, Ruth Edet!
Ruth Edet is a 300-level accounting student at the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Here are some of her achievements at Academic Hive:
- Built and maintained an excellent SEO score for blog content
- Worked collaboratively with social media managers to craft engaging content for social media handles
- Improved the website Google page Index
- Boost the website’s impression by over 400% in one month for an online campaign!
But how did Ruth get involved at Academic Hive? Read her interview below:
Hello Ruth, can we get to know you?
My name is Ruth Edet, a 300-level accounting student at the University of Calabar, Nigeria, and an SEO Manager at Academic Hive for African Scholars.
Before working with Academic Hive, what were your ambitions as a student?
My ambitions as a student were to make good grades upon graduation, write ICAN exams to become a Certified Chartered Accountant, and explore the labor market.
How did you come in contact with Academic Hive?
During the COVID-19 lockdown, I came in contact with Mrs. Juliet Inyang a co-founder of Academic Hive. I complained to her that I was tired of reading and repeating a daily routine for months. I needed to do something new, something creative and to make me think. I needed to do something I won’t get bored with easily and that I could keep at even after the lockdown. She came up with the idea of creating content for the AH. At first, I debunked the idea because I wasn’t computer literate, but she volunteered to put me through only if I was willing and ready to learn and even offered to pay. I jumped at the offer and kept was learning on the job till I understood content creation and SEO.
How do you feel working with the AH Team?
AH is the coolest place so far to work. The managers, the research team, and the rest people (interns and consultants) are the best people to work with. Their love for what they do and the zeal they put in is super amazing and I’m glad to be related and known with such a great team.
Have there been downtimes?
Sure there have! The first two months was really tough. Imagine creating a post and feeling satisfied with your work. Only for your boss to feel so frustrated and critiquing almost every part of it- grammatical errors, sentence structure, tone and others. I felt like quitting! But then I remembered that a lecturer corrects students not out of hate but for them to be the best at the course. I understood that my team lead wants me to be the best blogger in the research field! So I bore the frustrations, accepted the critiques, and made the necessary corrections. Also, juggling work and school is really hard, especially in the Nigerian setting where you have to attend all classes physically. Striking a balance is really challenging.
What impact has AH had on you as well as your career and research ambitions?
AH has taught me a lot! Even things I am sure I may not learn in class.
With AH I have enhanced my computer and digital literacy; my writing skills have improved; as well as my data entry and analysis skills with SPSS. I know that I am on a ladder to becoming a great research student. I can boldly say that my knowledge of research is far greater than those of my counterparts who basically learn research in a classroom settings.
Working with AH has taught me to put my audience first. With this orientation, even when I’m so tired from school, I try as much as possible to put up content in the blog (even if it’s just one post). I just feel that someone may need that post at that time. Also, the positive feedbacks from the audience have kept me motivated to always be at my peak to satisfy them. Furthermore, trying to meet up monthly targets has helped me learn to keep up with my life goals.
At AH, I see that research is more than simply picking a topic, paraphrasing it and submitting to the department to get score. I now appreciate the importance of good research. I am looking forward to becoming one of the top accounting researchers in Africa with specific interest on finding insightful solutions to ethical issues in accounting.
What is your advice to other young scholars?
A lot actually! Seek opportunities and grab them. Avail yourself for internship or volunteer opportunities. Be ready to explore new ideas and opportunities, and be teachable! Have a learning spirit, be patient and you will go places. Make research your top priority as a student. There is joy in providing suggestions, if not solutions, to problems bothering millions around the world.
Above all, never quit before you start, because the end justifies the means.
Any closing remarks?
Thank you AH, for seeing the potentials in me. Thank you for your patience and kind discipline (training). Thank you my dear self for not quitting halfway. I’m proud to connect with AH and hope to be with AH for a long time.
Connect with Ruth on LinkedIn: Ruth Edet
You can be the next Young Scholar of the month! Nominate here!
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