‘SLIIT is helping to develop my capabilities in realising my dreams’ – Amandi Madanayaka, placed island first in A/L 2020 Commerce Stream

Amandi Madanayaka, 20 years, has always been confident of achieving success. Her goal in life is to become a professional lecture bringing new concepts to the field of business helping professionals to soar. 

Her journey to achieve her ambitions are well thought out. As a past student of Sangamitta Balika Vidyalaya, Galle, with conscientious studying she obtained 9As at her Ordinary Level Examination and emerged all-island first in GCE Advanced Level 2020 in the Commerce Stream.  At the A/L’s she excelled in Accounting, Business Studies and Information Technology to secure the first place in the island.

Amandi hails from Imaduwa in Ahangama. Her parents, now retired, worked previously at the Imaduwa Divisional Secretariat. Amandi’s elder brother is currently pursuing higher education in engineering.

Working with firm determination to succeed, she followed through in her passion for commerce. Amandi said, “People said to do Biology and Maths, but I did not have the passion for it. My passion to study commerce began a long time ago.”

Her advice to students studying for exams is, “I had created small goals for myself – such as daily achievements. For example, I categorized my textbook and would keep to the daily target in finishing the chapters I had to do for that day.”

During this period while participating in extracurricular activities in school she never wavered, instead noted, “I had a target, the main vision which was to be first island-wide, to reach this I broke down my vision into daily targets.”

Today, SLIIT is providing Amandi a firm foundation for her future success. When queried from her reasons for selecting SLIIT, she said, “Although I was offered placements from other private Universities, I choose SLIIT.” Elaborating further, she added, “I applied for CODEFEST 2019 and came into the semi-finals with my team. When I visited SLIIT Malabe for the competition, I felt comfortable and began having a interest towards the University. The teaching and learning environment appeared fun and comfortable.”

Currently Amandi is studying for an upcoming examination at SLIIT. She said, “At SLIIT, we are given in-depth notes and we also have to take down the notes when the lecture is present. This is a little new to me, however I am doing my best to study smartly, by setting small goals as I did before. What I really like about SLIIT is that they have a degree in Business and IT together, which I think is a highlighted subject for me.”

Recognising that SLIIT has been a major turning point in her life, Amandi said, “The environment and culture in SLIIT is very different from my school life and I like it. SLIIT has made me feel more excited to study and provided me with the opportunities that I dreamed of but never thought I would be offered. Moreover, she stated that the general staff and educational staff are very friendly and always there to help.