A QCOG'S THOTS ON QC @83 PERSONALITY NO 3

My 3rd personality is an old friend, one of those classmates that you tend not to forget easily. One thing about her is that she has made her mark in life and is pretty promising to make more. An ex member of SLONFUNDELATS and Sovereign Army, she graduated with the class of 2001.I dont want to ramble on and on so i will let her do the talking.

ADUNOLA:

I graduated from QC in 2001. Following this, I went on to do a degree in Business Economics at Keele University, Staffordshire. This was a lovely time - one of the best years of my life, more to do with being close to the country side - Lagos girl away from the city... :0). I did an internship with a Big 4 accountancy firm and went on to join them for my accountancy training post-graduation from Keele. 3years after wards and with a passion to contribute to Nigeria's development (tangibly, as opposed to merely discussing it with friends over dinner/drinks), I decided to return to school, and I completed my Masters in Globalization and Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies - SOAS, University of London). 

This was a steep learning curve, returning to education after 3 years away from it, and the work load put paid to random socials with friends, etc. But that is life, no? That said, I enjoyed my time at SOAS, and learnt a lot about development, political economy and governments and the role of civil societies - the many seminars and events with diverse and well-accomplished people broadened my horizon beyond anything I could have imagined.

I am doing my PhD now at the University of Surrey in Tourism Research - trying to see how tourism can be a form of development in emerging economies. It looks to be interesting. Beyond academia, I am involved in several organizations that include creating awareness regarding African health (African Health Magazine), the fight against forms of modern slavery (Christians against slavery today), and actively love sports, and exercise, love traveling, cooking , music, the arts, reading and going for random walks. 

 Then she answered my random questions to which I am thankful for

1. ME:Do you remember your first day in QC?
ADUNOLA:Yes I remember my first day in QC -  I had to go to my new class, JSS1U, and thereafter to the assembly hall.
I remember being daunted by all the seniors, and excited that I was now in secondary school!

2.ME:Which PQC did you fancy?
ADUNOLA:Not too sure fancy would be the word I would use! I really liked Mrs Marinho. She was poised and appeared very ladylike, a quality I admired. Mrs Sojinrin was our longest principal, and while it took a while for us to come round to her (people almost always resist change), I missed her when she left.

3.ME:The best and worst thing about QC uniform including shoes?
ADUNOLA:The fact that we all had to wear some ill-fitting A-line skirts! The pinafores for junior girls in my opinion were more forgiving.  Don't get me started on the school shoes. I still hold on firmly to the thought that someone got a contract for the school shoes. They just were awful, and I didn't see the point.

4. ME:Best dressed teacher(s)
ADUNOLA:We had a french teacher, who was an intern I think, she was very stylish. I think Mrs Nnaji and Mrs Abdul-Gaffar were too, and of course, Mrs Bickersteth.

5. ME:What were your best memories of tuckshop or when coke boys came along?
ADUNOLA:I loved Tuckshop! I loved the arrangement, and the chance to leave class for a while. It was nice. Coke boys were an injection of testosterone in an all-female setting, one can see why most of the girls were excited or shall I say excitable.

6.ME: Most memorable part of QC in terms of building eg class, dorm, octagon, backgate.
ADUNOLA:QC was memorable in all its entirety. Class was nice, although the lengths to which people went  keeping of seats and back lockers were sometimes appalling. Dorms were fab! But then, I was a boarder in my senior years, so wasn't all too bad.Back gate - for some reason...was the happening place, with ISL boys, sometimes Lag boys, KC boys, all those boys.I was part of the Z-club and was fortunate to be its president. This was a club that had a lot of potential for change in the society. We were involved directly with the civil society and arranged many excursions outside of the school. I am still indirectly involved with Zonta, and hope to be directly involved soon.

7. ME;Worst punishment and who meted it out on you.
ADUNOLA;Worst punishment, or shall I say the punishment I thought most unfair was when one of the vice principals punished some of us for singing a song during moral assembly in a modern way.

8.ME:Extensions SS3 and/or JSS3 what was ur best or worst experience
  ADUNOLA:-

9. ME:What assembly during the week did you enjoy/loathe the most, PQC, house, tutorials or religious
ADUNOLA: PQC -  I looked forward to the announcements, and the lining up and all those wonderful prefects checking us for our compliance with rules, some reasonable, some not so.

10. ME:Favorite teacher
ADUNOLA:I didn't have a favorite teacher, but I really liked Mr Ademokun (I think that is the spelling of his name). He was very inspiring - led Sunday service and also took us on baptismal classes. More than anything, he was accessible.With regards to education, Aunty T! Economics was my favourite subject and she brought a dimension to it (and the art of teaching) that was entertaining as well as informative. I went on to do a degree in Economics, a Masters in Political Economy and a PhD in emerging economics....

11.ME: Most memorable boarding house experience.
ADUNOLA:Most memorable. I do not like writing on mosts. I remember dining hall, sick bay, inspection (I didn't like this). I think it will have to be prep time. It was different. It was semi-formal, it was put simply the actualization of my many Enid Blyton reads of boarding school (of course allowing for the Nigerian factor)

12. ME:What was the best thing about interhouse sports
ADUNOLA:Calisthenics!

13.ME:If you had to be on the QC  board what role would you like to play.
ADUNOLA:I would like to play an advisory role with regards to academic and non-academic education, fund raising and the encouragement of Old girls to participate in the school. Really, one should be able to look back with pride at one's old school, something I do not think is the case at the moment.

14.ME: Would you send your daughters to QC?
ADUNOLA:The QC of 1999, yes.

15. ME;If QC had to make any improvement what positive change would you like to see?
ADUNOLA:I think there needs to be more investment into the schools in Nigeria generally. The educational system has become highly polarized, and this is not good for society as a whole. There cannot be sustainable development with so much variation in something that should be as available as education.