Dowen College Principal Charges Student on Responsibility

Ugo Aliogo
The Principal of Dowen College Lagos (DCL), Mrs. Olawumi Togonu-Bickersteth has appealed to students to focus on building a solid future for themselves and take responsibility in ensuring that the world becomes a better place with integrity and applications of the right work ethics.

Togonu-Bickersteth who made this known, while speaking to the college’s 2017 graduating students during its Valecdictory Service and Graduation Ceremony, held recently, described excellence as an attitude rather than a skill; adding that no man can ever reach to excellence in any field without experiencing the slow and painful process of study and preparation.

“Until now your education has been meticulously and age appropriately planned in discrete packages, in predictable outcomes and measures of assessment. From now on your learning will become more difficult to quantify. Lessons will come sometimes disguised as opinions and at times from unexpected quarters. Set your goals and strive to develop your skills and potentials. You must strive to only be the best in the world, but be the best for the world,” she said

In her valedictory remarks, the Best Graduating Student, Miss Chimaobi Fedora, said the journey to emerging as the best in her class was challenging and that she was able to pull through with the help of God, her parents and teachers.

She added that her winning trophies in different award category was a consolation of the efforts she invested in her studies, noting, “this is the starting point for me and the struggle for success in life never gets easier, rather it requires commitment and determination.

“Life will throw many challenges at you. But when you have God and so many people to support, you can achieve anything. My guiding principle came from one of our ex-students, Serena Omo-Lamai who got admission offers from 13 foreign universities for her outstanding results. She was my inspiration. I wanted to be better than she was. God has always been there for me. But with Omo-Lamai, I have a good reason to be who I am today. She actually pushed to be where she is today.”

Fedora urged the students to imbibe the spirit of hardwork and focus on their studies, noting that as students they should be able to set their priorities right.

Some of the prizes won by Fedora were; Late Mr. Ola Vincent Prize for Best Graduating Student in Government, Hon. Justice Olusho Hunponu-Wusu Prize for Best Graduating Student in Literature-in-English, Rev. Dr. Yinka Omololu Prize for Best Graduating Student in Christian Religious Knowledge, among others