Sadly, the Environment we found ourselves has defined and will continue to define academic excellence (First class and Second class, Upper division) in the most undermining ways.

As a competent first class student, you ought to let competence seep through your activities and engagements on campus. This is beyond showing off or gaslighting. It's about you making the case of your competence easy in the face of an opportunity.

On campus, I'll advise every first class student to engage in volunteering activities that will simultaneously impact the lives of their course mates or other students and also cement their competence in students’ minds.

As a first class student, organize tutorials, do YouTube videos on complex concepts, engage in leadership and capacity building, engage in intellectual discussions with course mates, seek on-site experience, and pursue personal growth in addition to academic excellence.

All of these will make recommending you for life changing opportunities very easy for your course mates who are used to the mantra: “school na scam”. 

Instead of the conventional approach, they will be like: ‘James is not your usual first class student. He's an impact-driven individual who matches academic excellence with competence. James is the best fit for this opportunity.”

And phew, that's all you will ever need to nip in the bud a life-changing opportunity.