By Nna Anulumadu
Our Lady’s secondary Nnobi (Team Evergreen School) made the Archdiocese of Onitsha proud last week in Aba, Abia State, when the students of the school won first position at the Technovation South East Regional Event.
The school manager, Fr Vincent Nwanosike, who spoke to Trinitas correspondent on this development, disclosed that the victory has automatically qualified the school for semifinals, where they will represent the South East Region of Nigeria at continental level Africa.
According to him, the finals (World Summit) will be in the USA come August. He stated that they are working seriously to scale through the semifinals in order to participate at that final, adding that they are hoping to come back with the world trophy.
His words; ” this victory shows that the culture of excellence is permeating our institutions, irrespective of their locations.” In recent times, it has been a bazaar of victories: Mater Amabilis Umuoji, All Hallows, Onitsha, Regina Pacis, Onitsha, among others.”
Technovation, he revealed, is an international competition based in the USA being organized by a non profitable foundation. “It is a platform that gives the girl child the opportunity to impact her immediate environment with technology by identifying a problem in her community or in the world and finding a solution to it with technology. Young girls all over the world are participating in it. This year alone, more than two thousand apps have been created to solve problems. We have two teams, junior and senior teams, from our school. They created an app ( Teachers Qualification App) and AI model (Obiscope used in diagnosing and dictating Coronary Artery Disease). Over thirty schools participated with us, and we emerged winners in the South East Region.
“We have actually invested a lot in this project both financially and otherwise, and the students them selves have sacrificed energy and time to make the project a reality, and we are elated over the victory.” he explained.
The school manager thanked the Archbishop of Onitsha and the school proprietor, His Grace Most Rev Valerian M Okeke for his unalloyed support to the college, describing him as the architect of laurels the school is garnering, asserting the Archbishop dream about mission schools and his passion for education of the youth is materialising.
He recalled that at the time the school was returned to the mission 13 years ago, Our Lady’s Secondary School Nnobi was just a ghost of itself; the buildings dilapidated, but through the intervention of the Archbishop, the college has bounced back to former glory and now waxing stronger academically, morally and otherwise. “Our proprietor, the Archbishop, is a great motivator, he encourages us not to go for the less.
“Students of the college are performing wonderfully well and are excelling in external examinations and can favourably compete with their counterparts in any part of the world. The school now stands to make a great impact, and the good thing is it is a balanced college where boys and girls study under one roof. In other words, the mixed system will help the student, both males and females, to be balance emotionally and psychologically and relate with opposite sex with no fear of intimidation. Even when they eventually get to the university or the outside world, they will not find it difficult to socialize. “
The special assistant to the Governor of Anambra State on youth development Dr. Nelson Omenugha (an indigene of the town) who spoke to Trinitas on this development praised the effort of the school manager Fr Nwanosike for transforming the school within short period of time, bring the name the school to the eyes of the public, describing him a a dynamic and hard-working manager who is bent on bringing back the culture of excellence to College at all cost. He also poured encomiums on the Archbishop for his noble role in taking youth education in Onitsha Archdiocese to an unprecedented height, describing him as a father of holistic education.
