Page 20 - The Regent Digest Volume 13 Issue 34
P. 20

JOCHEBED PEACE
                                                                                                AIREDE
                                                                                                WHOLE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY
                                                                                                SPEECH


                                                                  and your academic strengths and future to be
        So, I don’t come to you today as someone who              dictated by others and by what they think. I am
        was perfect. Nor do I come to you as someone              here to tell you that with God on your side, with
        who  would  expect  you  to  be  perfect.  I  don’t       the teachers here on your side – because many
        know who you are or the pressures you have                of them believed in me way before I ever be-
        on your shoulders. My parents were civil ser-             lieved in myself – that anything you want? Is, in
        vants, are professors of medicine – so, excel-            fact, possible. That it is up to you to take charge
        lence was not an option; it was an expectation.           of your learning experience, to ask all the “stu-
        And I needed a scholarship if I wanted to go              pid” questions, no matter what anyone says.
        abroad for school. So, because I could not play           To take those booster lessons, to stay behind
        football like Declan Rice, and I cannot sing like         on Fridays until 3 p.m. like I did for almost two
        an angel, my grades were the way to do it. So,            years with Mr. Noble, to do everything in your
        I remember feeling like these were some of the            power to excel and to succeed – not because
        toughest years of my life.                                it’s what others expect of you, but because you
                                                                  expect it of and you owe it to yourself.
        But I do come to you, as the Proxime Accessit
        of the Class of 2018, 8 A*s and 3 As later, with          Because it isn’t just about getting the A*s and
        an award for Best in IGCSE History in Nigeria,            the  As.  It’s  great,  I  can  tell  you,  praise  Master
        and best in A-Level English Language and Lit-             Jesus – but it’s about knowing that you gave
        erature  exams  in  Nigeria,  as  a  summa  cum           it your best shot. That you tried even when no-
        laude graduate from Rutgers University with               body expected it of you. That you put your best
        a  triple  major  in  English,  French  and  Gender       foot forward. Even when you were scared, even
        Studies, glory be to God, that there is hope on           when you were tired, even when you wanted to
        the other side.                                           give up, you kept showing up.


        That, it doesn’t matter what anyone has told              Now, some of you might be thinking, “School is
        you. Maybe people have said, as they did to               a scam” and “Grades fade” and maybe they
        me, that you aren’t smart because you don’t               do. But the sense of satisfaction you gain from
        like Maths. Maybe someone has told you that               learning how to become the best version of
        you’ll  never  be  able  to  understand  Chinua           yourself will not. The study skills you pick up
        Achebe or Shakespeare. Maybe you think that               here – from learning how to use SparkNotes
        there’s too little time for you to turn your grade        to  understand  Shakespeare;  from  using  Tay-
        around.                                                   lor  Swift  to  memorise  the  first  20  elements  of
                                                                  the  Periodic  Table;  to  learning  how  to  man-
        I’m here to tell you that it is never too late.           age your time so you can study and still take
                                                                  care of yourself even when it’s Mock season –
        That you have too much ahead of you, and                  those skills will never fade. Learn how you study
        that your parents are paying way too much                 best - with music or without music? How can
        for you to be here, for your opinion of yourself          you make Chemistry more interesting? When






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