VALEDICTORY SPEECH :SPEECH WRITTEN BY ANIAGOR HENRY IFEANYI OF ST.MARY'S HIGH SCHOOL IFITEDUNU IN 2012

A VALEDICTORY SPEECH DELIVERED BY:ANIAGOR HENRY IFEANYI(SENIOR PREFECT EMERITUS)
ST.MARY'S HIGH SCHOOL IFITEDUNU ON THE OCCASSION OF:
THE 2011/2012 VALEDICTORY SERVICE AND PRIZE GIVING CEREMONY HELD ON:
TUESDAY,24TH JULY,2012,AT THE SCHOOL HALL.

   "Yesterday is history,tomorrow is mystery,but today is here with you,spend your time wisely"_ Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
   "Speech is power,speech is to persuade,to convert and to compel"_ Ralph Waldo Emerson.
     The Chairman,the Lady Chairperson,The Guest speaker,The Royal father of the day,The officiating minister,The Principal,The members of staff(Both tutorial and Non-tutorial),Dear Parents,Other invited guests,Fellow students of this High school,Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
     On behalf of all out-going students,I wish to express my profound gratitude and appreciation to you all for the pains you took to ensuring that our six-year stayed in this great citadel of learning was a facund,luxuriant,fruitful,spick and span,hence shambolic-free one.
    It is with great pleasure and deep sense of humility that I stand before you this day as the out-going senior prefect of this school to deliver my valedictory speech.

   With respect to all my superiors and my fellow students,I say good afternoon and a cordial welcome to this special and unique valedictory and prize-giving ceremonial service.
It is indeed,a feather in my cap and an atmosphere of mind-boggling complexity to address such a gathering like this.On the first premise,I consider it a wonderful opportunity for us to have passed through this type of wonderful institution.I regard my chronology from this school as a golden opportunity which should not be misapprehended and handled with levity,but should be taken seriously as to cleanse the Augean stables.Some people told me that senior years was going to be a cruise year and they are the biggest liars I have ever met.I mean,college were more fickle about acceptances,seniorities became the newest form of peer pressure,everyone was doing it and the blatant indifference seemed so cool.So,congratulations,my fellow classmates,for earning the privilege to don the stunning,heart-absorbing graduation attires, and to the underclassmen;Sorry,but you don't really grab the concept, "survival" yet.Hence,we all appreciated the act of hospitality and benevolence shown to us during our time that has just ended.
I am saying a very tremendous thank you to the school authority.You have really done a great work here.
     Permit me to stand on the existing protocol and go on a memory lane.Appraisal had it that exactly a year ago,parliament of principal,vice-principals,members of staff and the students in the diaspora elevated me to this spasmodic and enviable post of senior prefectship.Abinitio,I was flabbergasted and perplexed when the mantle of leadership befell me.This is because,I knew I had crossed the Rubicon,where one doesn't have to rub Peter to pay Paul.After proper scrutiny,I realized that the monumental tast ahead is indeed a Hobson's choice since the school authority and the students in the diaspora had found in me,an admirable crichton,that possesses the charisma that fits the office.Therefore,I stood to cast anchor and buckle on my armour,to enable me put my shoulder to the wheel.I was hence,determined to take up the gauntlet since it was a decision between scylla na charybdis.With the help of God,co-operations and rudimentary advises from members of staff and students at large,I was able to vanquish the various challenges of the office,even when the going got tough,and the prevailing fellow prefects got lackadaisical.That is why I am standing before you to deliver my last speech.
      To be frank,I became a prefect with the detemination to work hard and pertinacious to the school for better .Many students,even my predecessors came around to congratulate me after my confirmation as the head boy.
    "Ever good thing they say must surely come to an end".
    Therefore,my memorable stay in St.Mary's High School Ifitedunu has come to an end,but I surely know that part of my work will remain in this school.I could remember vividly how I walked into the school with the determination to sail successfully through this school,and indeed,I have ended up doing more than that.I made sure that not only did I pass through the school but also,the school passed through me.
    Today,I am giving my last speech in the exalted position.We are all familiar of the Holy Book quote  which says,
  "There is a time to be born and a time to die".
   Yes,this is a time to leave the scene for others..

CHALLENGES FACED AS THE HEAD BOY:
   Indeed,it has been exciting five years before I was made the head boy.I was overwhelmed with joy when I was elevated.It was not until I started my duty that I realized that
    "uneassy they say lies the head that wears the crown".
   Succintly saying,it is not a bed of roses,neither is it hell on earth.It is rough,challenging,criticizing,cumbersome,pressurizing,lambasting,yet edifying.As a senior prefect,you are expected to wake up in time,sacrifice lesson periods to beat different places at a time,sleep very late at night as to meet up with academic calendar,ever ready to accept criticisms but to me,however,it was stepping stones to many gooddies that posterity hold for one,and perhaps,a nurturing basement to our successors who will grow up to become future leaders of tomorrow.
    I found myself working hard to overcome prejudice and be a good role model to both teachers and students.It was a very tedious work to do because,I had to combine my academics with my duty and not misuse the power and managerial potentials conferred on me.Despite the fact that resounding achievements,progresses,and successes were recorded during my rein,there were nagging plights that came my ways,which were more like stumbling blocks.
    On the first premise,while trying to co-ordinate some activities,my fellow prefects and I had more often than not encountered the unwholesome and recalcitrant behaviour of some of our students.As a cultured and educated student,we endeavoured to use courtesy to make them finally resorted to apply draconian legislation,where severe laws are made,there was a case of students threatening some of us.This uncouth and unsophisticated behavioural pattern of our students has tarnished greatly and painted black,the image of the school in the public.The father of informal education in the person of Hosea Ballou in 1896,in a symposium held in San Franscisco in U.S.A,said,
  "Education commences at the mother's knee and every word spoken within the hearing of children ,tends towards the formation of character"
  John Ruskin also said that,
  "Education is the leading of human souls to what is best,and making what is best out of them".
   I am therefore suggesting that,as many parents that are here present,should enlighten their children on the demerits and consequencies of being a hooligan.
    Honestly,I wouldn't have resolved these problems without the unbiased assistance of some distinguished teacher,the school guidance counsellor-Mrs.Nkachukwu,whom I was fetching her office like water whenever I have problem.Even when I don't have problem,she will invite me to her office and advise me on how best to handle issues and kept on reminding me that my image is astake.I hence urge every aspiring student to borrow a leave from me and identify in a special way with her.Great thanks to Mrs.Ekweozor,my form teacher in junior and a mother to me.She was working very hard to see that her son left the throne with triumph.I owe you alot.Thanks also to Mrs.Obodozie V.,a vice-principal who was like a God-sent to us in time of difficulties.Truely,you possess qualities of a good mother.I will never forget my form teacher;Lady Hero-Okoye,the first Lady of the century,who believes in solving students' affairs with her money to avoid misunderstanding.You are indeed a model.Great thanks to Mrs.B.N.Obiajulu for her outstanding support during my tenure.Teachers like;Mrs.Nwankwo Asiegbu,Vice-principal admin(Jnr),Mrs.Adaba G.,Emelife E. Mr.Chiazor,Mrs.Nweke(Avee),Mrs.Ezeh,Mrs.Umeokolo,Mr.Nworah E.E.(Chief Games master),Mrs.Ikeh(My personal matron) and so many of them,to mention but a few.
   God will reward you all for being there for me..

PERSONAL VIEWS AND PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE PRINCIPAL:
    A man whom the lust for office does not kill,
   A man whom the love for office cannot buy,
   A man who possesses opinions and will.
   A man who love honour,
   A man who cannot lie.
   These were quotes by J.G.Holland.
   Engr.F.O.Azaka is passionate,estimable,respectful and sociable.He is a man of mercurial temperament,good natured,fastidious,conscientious,scrupulous and altruisic soul.He is cheerful as a bird,as audacious as the day,as agile as a cat,industrious as an ant,inexhaustible as the deep sea,honest as a mirror,and as wise as Solomon.He is accessible and accomodating to his neighbours and members of staff.Infact,he is a father and a sincere parent to us.He is not a "wise-man-on-an-island of his own".He is a man of the masses,a man of substances.He is a father so caring and a counsellor and indeed a mentor,more especially to me.He is a man who removed our name from the mud and brought back our respect.He is a man with hallucination,total discipline and brighter hopes for the failure.He is a man who is ever ready to help,devoted and committed in the discharging of his duties since I have known him from my cradle.He is not a sit-at-home or office principal.He is always in the school except on a few occassions when he goes out on public services;you know he is a man of the people.
    He is not just a principal but also a scientist who ended up an Engineer,taught Physics with pride and confidence,to the extent that the excellent result his students recorded in Physics,promoted him to the level he is today.That is a prove that he is industrious,active,asciduous,vivacious and audacious in nature.He is a "Patriarch of substances".He is a man with excellent antecedents,high level credibility,proven integrity,intellectual prowess,versatility,ambidextrous and indemnifies character.
   He always want to be spick and span in his endavours.Infact,words are not enough to describe him and his deeds,because,he is like a father to those who obey and regard his laws,but like a hunter to law breakers and erring students.
    Engr.F.O.Azaka,may God in his infinte mercy,continue to guide,guard and protect you from all your ways.The Lord will keep rewarding you as you continue to cultivate in his vineyard.You love us but we love you must.

MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
   "Small beginning the say,make a great ending".
   "The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight,but they,while their companions slept,were toiling upward in the night"_ By Longfellow
    During my one-year-tenure in office,the school recorded many achievements.The questions are of two folds;Did we make time in office or made the difference?.I will give account of our achievements,successes and touch on our Achilles heels and set backs for you here to be better judges presently.
    To start with,I thank God for the fact that during my tenure,there was total protection by Him.There was no death recorded of staff and students,There was no cases of accident.Alas,no record of mortality.
    Furthermore,there was teacher-student-cordiality,yet a peaceful session.There was no case of students fighting their teachers,but few cases of students fighting one another.
     Nevertheless,new teachers were posted to our school and new subjects like civics,account ,cultural and creative Arts,introductory technology were introduced into the school curriculum.Also,it was during my tenure that an ultra-modern computer lab/cyber cafe was erected in the school.It was during my tenure that flower planting project was executed in the school.It was during my tenure that the idea of principal and members of staff putting on their graduation outfits during orientations was imbibed in the school system.It wa during my tenure that the school was re-painted for over years.It was my tenure that launched the first end-of-year party under the chairmanship of our indefatigable and indomitable principal-Mr.F.O.Azaka.It was my tenure that anticipated the idea of all SS3 students becoming boarders for effective WAEC and NECO preparations,which was finally included in the school's memorandum of policy.It was during my tenure that the school mounted two lister generators.During my tenure,the school hosted many principals' conference,external examinations and state games.
       Moreover,in terms of competition,my tenure proved it all both in quiz,sports,exhibitions and so many others.Members of the high table,distinguished ladies and gentlemen,my enviable parents and God-loving students,the school authority will justify me right when I tell you that in my tenure,the school won a golden medal,through Nigeria at large,in the person of Nwodo Kingsley,who was my serving student in the hostel and Chief-librarian emeritus of the junior section.Also,during my tenure,the school won many project exhibitions both in junior and senior.
    Now,devoid blowing my trumpets and sharp regards to self-deprecating shrugs,the school at large can bear witness that I was not just a senior prefect,but was also representing the school positively both in science and essay competitions.
   Permit me at this junction to thank in a special way;Mr.Dike I.J-the 12-hour-lesson and tireless science teacher of our school.He never allowed me to rest.He will keep disturbing me to ensure that I am well groomed in science.He made me change my study time table from 3 hours per subject to 4 hours and then from 1t midnight Till Day Break(TDB),as to meet up his demands.Great thanks to Mrs.Ken Okonkwo.How do I ever repay you for the work you have done here?She was the one who groomed me in English language,prepared me for essay competitions and today,of our set,in essay competition,I am number one in Dunukofia,number one in Awka zone,number one in Anambra state, and my last nationals was number four,by the grace of God,have authored novels in English and many unpublished manuscripts.Great thanks to Mrs.Obiefuna,my doctor and a great Biologist,whom students respects very well for her perfection in the subject.I will never forget my great mathematics gurus;Mr.Ogua and Mr.Anyaka,who nurtured me so much in mathematics.I am a living testimony to your teaching skills.I will not leave behind my Igbo teacher,Mrs Eze,who also groomed me in Igbo and by God's grace,I have authored a novel in Igbo language and other teachers who taught me in one way or the other.
   All these had made me to conclude the throne in Elysian happiness,having known that I had set the thames on fire..

ADVICE TO THE FINALISTS:
   First and foremost,I wish to repeat at this junction that what has perhaps been hammered into our ears in the past six years in this school that life outside school is quite different.New challenges,new concepts,new situations arises each day.All these will tax us and we have to meet bravely like able men.
     In this life,laziness,stealing,physical combat,reckless living without regard for the feelings of others,writing wild and unfounded allegations against authorities,demonstrations and violent protests should be shunned and abolished.People who have tasted the two worlds reflect and say that school life is the best.The reason for such a conclusion is not far-fetched.Life outside school is full of ups and downs,frustrations and challenges.
    However,school life is not as gloomy.If I appear to be scaring some of us,all we need to do is to brace up ourselves and be perseverance.Though,life is neither a bed of roses nor a bush of thorns.We must always have in mind that life is game,play it well,life is a song,sing it and life wouldn't be fun if it does not have its ups and downs.
     We must also stay away from bad friends because,the Holy book says,"Evil communications corrupt good manners".We should not be carried away by the lure of the glitters of urban life.Remember that not all that glitters is gold.It is now time for us to face our next phase of life and be industrious towards the career we choose to pursue.
   Abraham Lincoln once said,
   "I will study and wait,and the opportunity will come".
  I want you to be up and doing in your studies,aim at what you want to become.There is surely a place for you at the top.As we keep progressing into the higher ground,our torch will keep on shinning,even when we leave,a legacy would be left behind and we will always remember our great Alma-mater,St.Mary's High School Ifitedunu.You are now great alumni and some of us celebrities.

CONCLUDING REMARKS:
  My unbiased appreciation to my friends;Atuorah James,Obodozie Chuka(Social Prefect Emeritus),Mordili Simon C.(Class Prefect Emeritus SS3A),Amah Gabriel C.(Deputy Senior Prefect Emeritus),Okafor Shedrack(Deputy Chief Librarian Emeritus),Okeke Festus C.(Chief Librarian Emeritus),Ikeaba Vincent (Chief Labour Emeritus) and Eziakor Cornelius(Bishop Okafor Hostel Captain Emeritus).Thank you all for your outstanding support towards making this epoch a dream come true.
    May I thank all the outgoing students that have contributed to the success of 2011/2012 school project.May the Lord continue to heighten you all and may His benison continue to be on your side.Great thanks also to the incumbent senior prefect-Amala Ndibe Raphael and also to Nwodo Kingsley-the one who was more like a brother to me in the hostel.
   To the SS2 and my fellow students,I seize this opportunity to advise you to make good use of your time for studies as to stand top at last.Learn from our mistakes to struggle for the best.Promise yourself never to leave this school without achieving something great that will make everyone to notice you.
  I want you to learn from the words of Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo that says;
   "Without sacrifice,there is no success,
  Without pain,there is no gain,
  Without something,there is nothing,
  Without shy,there is no sign,
  Without shame,there is no fame,
   Without pressure,there is no pleasure".
  I want you to know that every beginner is a winner provided he doesn'z quit.Time waits for none,time flies,time is money,time is the best counsellor,so whatever your hands find doing,do it diligently with your strength.
   Remember that,"The man who succeeds is the efficient few".
   We must all learn from the words of John F.Kennedy,which says;
  "Education kills the diseases of ignorance,superstition,fear and poverty".
  Don't give up studies.Aspire to the top,for the top is sparse and the bottom is dense.
    In addition,beyond the fireworks,the joy and clinking of glasses that comes with today's epochal event,I urge the management board to use this valedictory service to provide the right pathway for cementing the unity of this great school and turn their weaknesses into strength.It should also be used to engender the spirit of unity among the students and staff and an opportunity to find solution to the nagging problems of the school.
    Once again,I thank the school authority for giving me this golden chance to lead and gain alot of experience from a leadership pedestal and for its confidence repose in me.
    Thank you all for making out time to attend this august occassion.may God bless you all and grant you journey mercies back to your various destinations.
    I conclude by quoting former New York city mayor,Edward Koch;
   "The fireworks begins today.Each diploma is a lighted match.Each one of you is a fuse".
    Together,let us illuminate the skies with explosive talents and multicolored dreams.
   Class of 2012,welldone!,Today is your day.
Long live St.Marys!
Long live Engr.Azaka!!
Long live Ifitedunu!!!
Long live Dunukofia!!!!
Long live Anambra!!!!!
Long live Nigeria!!!!!!
St.Mary's varsity,(Deo,Patriaque, Fidelis)
Flawless victory!
Mission accomplished!!
     __Aniagor Henry Ifeanyi__
        (Snr.Prefect Emeritus)