urges students to pay the price for success
Mr Ike Diaku, the immediate past Third Vice President (Diaspora) of the St. John’s Old Boys Association (SJOBA) has urged students of the school to pay the price for success and the attainment of any good thing they ever desire to become in the society after their academics.
Addressing the students at the Assembly ground, Diaku, who arrived the school at about 7am, in order to join the morning devotion at the Assembly ground told the students that there is still a place on the table for hard work. He urged them to be teachable and to drop all vices which like the thief, only come to “steal, kill and destroy their destinies.” He urged them to avoid bad influences which would only lead them astray and ultimately ruined their dreams.
He iterated that SJOBA has constantly tried to make learning and life more comfortable for them, admonishing them to inculcate the virtues of neatness and time consciousness. He counseled them to develop high sense of discipline, hard work and be diligent, even as they should desist from half measures and short-cuts which according to him, are never pathways to success.
“You will not make it in life by cutting corners. If you allow anyone to encourage you to go to a miracle centre to take WAEC examinations, you are digging a grave for your future,” Diaku told the students.
He explained that there was an expectation that students in SS3 would enroll for WAEC, and take them in St. John’s Grammar school under the guidance and instructions of their teachers. He implored students to stay away from cyber-crime known as Yahoo-yahoo.
The recipe for success is simple: “Be punctual to school, be in class, and work hard,” he told the students.
He urged them to compliment the efforts of their parents who are struggling to see them through school by ensuring that they read their books, pass very well in order to move on in life and become a successful in whatever field of study they may choose to apply themselves.
“Many of us when we were at your age also struggled just like many of you are doing now to obey your parents and especially teachers when they are teaching you in class. For many of us, those things they were saying did not make sense, but we obeyed anyway and today, we were where we are by the grace of God. I am also urging you to do likewise, obey your parents, listen to your teachers so that you can turn out well and become somebody that the society would look up to and then you can also come back to this school, just as I, and many old boys who you have been seeing coming back here to come and speak with you and contribute to making your time here more interesting are doing, and to give back to the generation coming after you,” Diaku said.
Earlier, Diaku, a Business Development Consultant based in the City of London, United Kingdom, had paid a courtesy visit to the school Principal, Mrs. Modupe Adisa. He told the principal, he arrived Ile-Ife, Osun State, the day before, to enable him participate in the Assembly on Monday morning. He prayed the school management led by Mrs Adisa for their doggedness and their dedication to the promotion of education and in widening the scope and knowledge of the students of the school.
He said the foundation of all that he is today was laid by the school where he spent hios formative years, and urged them not to let the alumni body who are striving to ensure that they improve the standards of the school environment down.
Thanking the Immediate past Third Vice President, Mrs Adisa said the school appreciates the entire body of old students of the school who are alive to their responsibilities and are always contributing to the growth and development of the school.
She said just last year, a set of the old boys, brought first class monarch, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja III, to the school, during some commissioning a development which left a huge impact on the students and people in the community.
The principal, spoke on the on the challenges confronting the school, many of which she acknowledged the alumni association have been addressing. Diaku, was later taken on a tour of the school premises by Mrs. Adisa, to see some completed and ongoing projects being undertaken by various sets of old boys of the school just to make learning more comfortable for the present crop of students.
Diaku subsequently met with the teachers and administrative staffs of the school and spoke of the need for them to continue to join hands with Mrs Adisa and the alumni association, keep the flag of excellence of the school flying.
He harped on the importance of discipline, diligence and strict compliance to the code of conduct of the school, explaining that young student as impressionist species, do more of what they see, than what they are instructed to do.
He reminded them of the late Mr. Anthony Tayo Aremu, his then principal, when he was a student in the school.
Aremu, he recalled, had a Peugeot 505 car, whose registration number was OY 99 GM. “The number, Mr Aremu told us, stood for 99% good manners which he expected all his students to exhibit at all times, regardless of the circumstances or location.”
Diaku pledged the continuous support of the old boys association under the leadership of Engr. Adewuyi Adetoogun – President and Bisi Obawole – Third VP (Diaspora), and thanked the teachers for all their hard work in ensuring that their products turned out well.
