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Between Wednesday, May 11, and Sunday, May 15, 2022, Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, will be agog with exciting activities, as some old ‘boys’ converge on the serene city in their numbers.
Members of the Class of ’87, Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, who attended the prestigious school between 1982 and 1987, would be returning to their alma mater for a five-day event to celebrate 35 years since their graduation from the school.
Established by the Anglican Archdeacon Henry Dallimore in 1933, Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, the first secondary school in Ekiti State, has produced thousands of students who have made indelible marks in different fields of endeavour in Nigeria and abroad.
It was not the first time members of the set would be returning to their alma mater. Five years ago, in 2017, they were on the Agidimo Hills in Ado-Ekiti, where the school is situated. That was when they celebrated the 30th anniversary of leaving the school.
And they did not return empty-handed. They committed millions of naira into the reconstruction of the Principal’s Lodge, which they handed over to the school, along with a worthy generator to power the building once public power supply failed.
Already, several members of the set have arrived Nigeria from their different stations in Europe and North America, while scores of those in Nigeria are also planning their trip to Ado-Ekiti to be part of the event.
President of the set, Professor Folarin Oguntoyinbo, said his classmates would spend time reuniting and reflecting about their time in the school, appreciating the quality of education they got and the impact it has made in their individual careers.
Oguntoyinbo, a professor at the Department of Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, United States, told Daily Sun: “We’ll be using the reunion to launch two programmes, a three-year scholarship award to three most brilliant Christ’s School students, and the presentation of a cloud-based software called Documents Management System (DMS), valued at $40,000, to the school. This is unprecedented in the history of the school. It will change administrative, management, teaching, student’s participation/activities and parental monitoring. We are also using the capacity of our set members to do a career talk to encourage the students to get an early direction and know the opportunities available in different fields of science, social sciences, engineering and the arts.”
He expressed appreciation to the association for presenting the DMS to the school.
“The students can now follow all their classes effectively on the Internet and parents can also monitor and see progress of their students. So, this is a huge achievement and I appreciate our members for doing this for our alma mater for free,” he said.
General secretary of the set, Joseph Adeleye, a business development specialist based in the United Kingdom, said the reunion would give former classmates the opportunity to reconnect and reminisce about the good old days: “It will reinforce our common bonds, renew our friendship, and help us to appreciate our different but parallel journeys thus far.”
He also spoke about the DMS being donated to the school.
“The DMS will have capacity for the following administrative and management work: Transforming school management from manual to a digital system; students’ online academic record-keeping and management; teacher’s academic computation; principal’s academic authorisation and control; parental control and monitoring; scholarship management, and it provides an interactive platform for the principal, teachers, students and parents.”
Opeyemi Obafemi, managing director, Timeless Prints, Lagos, is chairman of the media and publicity committee for the reunion. He said the reunion was as necessary as life itself, noting that members of the set needed to come together after 35 years and try to relive the ambience of that period.
“It’s a perfect opportunity to network, bond, exchange banter and try some other things that we did 35 years ago. We will have career talk with the students, visit the families of some of our departed colleagues and the homes of some of our teachers. We will play a novelty match and have some good fun among ourselves.
“Of course, the town itself would feel our presence. Many of the young people would be motivated by our presence and our achievements in life, and they would want to get serious with their studies so they could also make a success of their lives and careers.” Obafemi said.
Also, Abiodun Ajayi, social secretary of the set and CEO, Optimal Care Limited, London, UK, said at least 120 guests were expected at the event, which would feature several activities that would be of benefit to the school, the students and members of the set.
