■ Beyond the School: Vervelde’s wife charges students to discover and nurture their talents
Students have been told to discover and nurture their abilities, talents and areas of interest, in order to take advantage of their chosen career opportunities in future. Mrs. Clementine Vervelde, the Project Champion of Beyond the School Initiative, sponsored by the Nigerian Breweries/Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, and wife of the Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc., Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde, told participating students in Lagos recently to believe in themselves and to stand up boldly to challenges they might encounter in their career pathway.
“The knowledge you now have will help you find disciplines that you are passionate about,” she said. “You also have to develop the skills needed to succeed in those disciplines. You should be able to sit down and think of where you want to be in the next few years. The power lies in your hands.”
According to Mrs. Vervelde, the “Beyond the School” initiative programme is a career guidance initiative designed to enlighten and expose secondary school students to career options and how best they can focus their learning to make it more relevant to desired future careers. The initiative, she said, also seeks to develop a healthy reading culture among students.
Speaking earlier, the Corporate Affairs Adviser of Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Kufre Ekanem noted that the initiative has been introduced to complement other initiatives of the company targeted at the education sector. He counseled students to work hard at their academics in spite of the economic challenges confronting them and the nation at large.
The initiative, according to him, is designed for senior secondary school students in public schools to expose them to career options and factors they need to consider before making a career choice. He added that the initiative also underpins the importance of reading in career goal achievement.
He called on students to take advantage of the career guidance information provided to them, which is in line with best practices, to achieve their fullest potential.
Ayeni Adekunle, the CEO of Black House Media who was the guest speaker at the occasion advised the students to be focused and steadfast, adding that the most important time of their lives is now. He implored the students to develop their passions and interests to guarantee a future that does not depend on perpetually seeking out employment.
Abisoye Ajia, a Wealth Adviser with Stanbic IBTC, the Fund Managers of the initiative, charged the students to inculcate the culture of saving and investing.
This year’s edition of the programme, held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos had in attendance students and teachers from Oregun Senior Secondary School, Oregun; Vetland Senior Secondary School, Agege; Government Senior Secondary School, Ikoyi; Baptist Senior High School, Obanikoro and Eric Moore Senior High School, Surulere, saw students from the schools compete in a game of Monopoly.
Whereas Godwin Daniel of Eric Moore Senior High School won the first prize and went home with an educational fund of N500, 000 and a cash prize of N100, 000, Pelumi Fabiyi of Oregun Senior Secondary School, Oregun won the second prize and was presented with an educational fund of N250, 000 and N50, 000 cash prize. Uche David of Oregun Senior Secondary School came third and got N50, 000 Stock Mutual Fund and N10, 000 cash. All students present went home with a Lagos edition Monopoly game tablet.