It was celebration galore recently as three students of Corona Secondary School (CSS), Agbara, Ogun State, bagged the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) awards; three students won the National History Awards (NHA), with one overall winner; and a student bagged Association for International Schools award.
The award presentation at the school’s premises on May 10, 2021, had in attendance the principal, Mrs. Chinedum Oluwadamilola, teachers, organisers of the awards and students. In her address, the excited Oluwadamilola noted that the students have made the school proud for their diligence and commitment to success adding that the school has always in its capability provided a good platform for the students to achieve outstanding academic results.
She said: “This is an event where we are celebrating excellence. An excellence that has been validated by international organisations not the one ‘we say to ourselves we are doing well.’ We have been participating in the National History Competition for the past six years and at various levels we have won. We have been winners at senior and junior categories but this is the first time we are combining both at the national level with one of our students winning overall, scoring 100 per cent.
“The other awards are AISA, many international schools belong to this organisation. Every year, AISA would want to reward students across the continent for excellence and we have always put on for that competition. For the first time, we won an award for excellence and for the second time we won again.”
She added that, “COBIS award cuts across various nations of the world. In all countries of the world, you find COBIS school. COBIS award is not just for academic performance but also the impact of the student in their larger community and within the school community. The award is in six categories and each school is expected to put in only three nominations and talk about what the students have done, with evidence. We went in for three and we won the three.”
Despite the fact that the final students are yet to write their WAEC exams because of the pandemic, the three COBIS winners already have admissions in international universities. “They all have admissions in about 15 schools, with scholarships, already. The scholarships are not based on only their academic performance but also on all the different things they do aside from academics. And if we sum the worth of all the scholarships, we have over $2 million worth scholarships awarded to some of our students”.
The principal stressed that: “What we do in Corona Secondary School is to give them that enabling environment so they are the best in whatever they are doing. We don’t only read here, you do all social activities because that is the totality of the human being and with that it brings up abilities. Let’s learn to encourage our children to be the best in every way. People that are in the position to make and enforce the laws should give our children the enabling environment. Our children shouldn’t be what we should be playing with and I’m sure they will make us proud if we give them what they need.”
In his commendations, coordinator of the National History Competition, Mr. James Onimisi, said the students of CSS were teachable students with hardworking teachers.
“We are here to celebrate our students in the just concluded history award. The overall student is from Corona Secondary School. With what I have seen, they have good teachers around and they have teachable students. As we have seen, the overall best student is not offering history. We are advocating that history should be compulsory for all students. I wish to encourage other schools to take advantage of this competition because it will help the student to know their history and encourage nation-building” he said.
The History and Sociology teacher, Mr. Olusanjo Fagbohungbe, who supervised the students for the National History Award, applauded his wards for their hard work towards success and the school for supporting the students at all times.
“Nothing is good as success. We thank God for the enablement and also try our best but it has been a regular thing. For sometime now, we have been taking our students for competitions and we have been winning. What I discovered was that we have willing students here and we are also very available. This balance has really helped us to achieve a lot and we are not stopping here,” Fagbohungbe said.
The head prefect, Master Jay Esemudje, a recipient of the COBIS award and only student awarded the AISA award in the whole of Africa with over $600,000 worth of scholarship, appreciated the school for its support.
He said, “I received the COBIS award for my excellent contribution to the Wonder School Community. This award is the recognition of students that do things they love. I believe that if you do things you enjoy and impact positively, you are also a good student.
“The AISA awards came as a surprise and it’s an honour to have been picked among the students all over the continent. AISA awards map out Africa on the map and it’s about the tenacity of the students and the passion that we have as students to develop our community and when I say community I mean the country at large. It’s an honour to be a recipient and truly I didn’t see this coming. I just kept doing what I know how to do best.”
Another COBIS award recipient, Miss Tamara Akika, said life has given her enough and all she wants to do is give back, which eventually won her an award: “The award I won was the significant contribution to the African community. I believe I won this award because of my impact in my community and I’m very passionate about helping people and putting smiles on their faces. I have developed a lot of projects, which were of significant benefit to the larger society. I also believe that this award is a motivation for people to do the best they can as individuals in the community,” she said.