THE HEROES THAT MADE ME

 

(A tribute to nine pillars who birthed the reformed "me")

Lately, I have fallen into the habit of going down memory lane, often spending time down in the depths of my memories. Sometimes to seek succor from my pain or worries, and sometimes to fuel my happiness.

Wednesday, 30th July was one of those days when I traveled down that long road. This time, I went back in time, reviewing a part of my life that holds a large chunk of my memories – my stay in St Louis Grammar School.

That night’s reminiscence centered on the various teachers that taught me and how their lives influenced me. Remembering them brought tears to my eyes, as I realized how much I have missed them all. As my usual practice entails, I took my pen and started scribbling down these memories of each of them. I hope that they cherish these memories as much as I do.

1. MRS LADIPO

Perhaps, the figure that I miss the most. On paper, she was my Principal from SSS1 to the last term of SSS2. But in my heart, she was one of the greatest mothers I have been privileged to meet.

Mrs. Ladipo taught me the true meaning of dedication and selflessness. Fresh in my memory lies the manner in which she wielded her influence in the school, such that teachers and students alike were always comfortable around her. It is a common factor for students to fear their principals. But with Mrs. Ladipo, it was more of reverence than fear.

No matter how early you got to school, you would meet this mother in the compound, releasing prayers over the school and any other issue she could think of. I am not sure if she made it compulsory for teachers to attend, but I noticed that most members of staff were always eager to join the prayers.

It was no surprise when, at her farewell ceremony to the students, many students and few teachers broke down in tears. Who would not be moved to show a bit of emotion for a woman who gave her all, and made it a duty to pour herself into you?

2. MRS AFOLASHADE ADEYOONU

Whenever I remember the quote I saw on a Facebook page that reads, “Good teachers are not those who produce students with good results, but those who produce leaders with good innovations”, I cannot help but think of Mrs. Adeyoonu. All through my stay in St Louis, her actions made it clear that she was not just after the beauty of our WAEC results, but essentially after our ability to be people of relevance after we leave the school.

Being our English teacher, I usually looked forward to her classes. My classmates would testify that in between the tenses, oral English, and comprehension passages that she taught us, she had a way of infusing “life hacks” and leadership nuggets into her classes. She always had a practical example for whatever she taught us.

One major skill I learnt from her life is delegation. I loved visiting her staff room during breaks, mainly to watch the way she delegated responsibilities. It was as if people willingly bought into her and for me that is one skill that has come to stay.

3. MR OLUMIDE ADEDOKUN

Though he was popularly known as “Mayweather”, I never liked addressing him by that title. Till today, I still feel comfortable calling him by his original name.

Mr. Adedokun remains one of my most valued teachers of all times. Judging from my acute hatred for Maths, it was obvious to my friends and my Mom that the only reason why I attended the Saturday lessons organized for students, was because I dreaded the thought of missing his wonderful classes.

For me, he was a sort of “distant father” – a man who played the role of a father to me without being conscious of it. He seemed to understand my problems as a growing teenage girl, though I never shared them with him. Most times, he would proffer solutions to these problems in his patented comedic manner, and while the rest of the class roared with laughter, I would heave an inward sigh of relief, grateful that yet one of my problems had been solved.

Particularly, I learnt the principle of resilience from this English demigod. It was precisely a month to my WAEC and I was not leaving any stone unturned. To prepare myself for essay writing, I submitted four different practice essays to him for marking, and each of them returned to me with a score of 28/30!

I was pissed at first, thinking that he was following this student-never-gets-all-the-marks rule. I confronted one sunny Friday, and his response has been reverberating in my head ever since.

“Goodluck, when things like this happen, that is not the time to give up or begin to sulk. I expect that you keep writing and submitting until you give no room for me to withhold your full mark. Not that I did it on purpose, that was what you indeed, scored. But if you are a serious student, you will keep writing until you make yourself deserve the full marks.”

Even after I left St Louis, I still put these words into practice. They are one of the many words that remind me of the true way to respond to rejection. I am forever grateful for them.

4. MR. MARLEY ATULE

How do I describe the person who discovered my speaking ability? How do I portray the man who saw past my playfulness, to discover and nurture the writing goddess within me?

Anytime I add a write-up to my collection, I cannot help but say a word of gratitude for making our paths cross. It is amazing how a relationship that began on the student-teacher basis grew to become a brother-sister relationship.

That Wednesday when I spoke for the first time before the entire St Louis (Snr) community, I never took note of the new corp member who was one of the judges for the debate activity that had just been concluded. All I knew was that, from that day, Mr. Marley made it a responsibility to nurture that speaking and writing gift in me.

I would never forget that afternoon when he made me watch “The Great Debaters” on his laptop after school hours. It was one movie that made me resolve to be better at speaking, no matter what it would cost. That single movie helped me to set speaking goals, most of which I achieved before I left the school. To this gift of God to me do I owe an eternity of gratitude.

5. MR MICHAEL OMOLABI

How I feared this man in junior school! His physique used to send cold chills down my spine each time I saw him from the window of my JSS2 class. What was worse, his thundering voice did not help matters. He had a sort of menacing posture that made me think of him as” one of those cruel teachers.”

Getting to the senior school changed my perspective, as I got to interact with him. Frequent meetings with him gave me a glimpse into his person and the kind of heart that he has.

The day Mr. Marley submitted my name to him as one of those who would represent the school at an upcoming debate, I developed a special liking or respect for this man. If there was one thing I learnt from him, it is the ability to withstand the urge to compromise. He was down-to-earth, honest and blunt man, always ready to say things as they are.

From that day, I became attached to him. I do not why, but he took me as his daughter, literally! He was always the first to notice when my mood was down, if I was unwell or if I had been crying. He was also always the first to knock sense into my skull whenever I slipped up in school.

I recall the day I cried openly on the school field when he refused to let me join the students for racing. I was in SSS2, had just recovered from a surgery, and had just resumed school about a month before. Apparently, Mr. Omolabi felt that I was not strong enough to race, but I felt slighted and immediately started crying right there on the field.

During break period, he called me into his office and gave me the blasting of my life for embarrassing myself in public, and for not being reasonable with my health. I am glad that he stopped me that day, and I remain thankful for every other day when he continually saved me from injuring myself, physically and otherwise.

6. MR OPARINDE

“Where is Goodluck?” I heard him ask, as I hid in the next class. I knew that eventually, he would send out people to fish me out of my hiding place.

Mr. Oparinde understood my hot hatred for Mathematics. He had found out that I usually ran away from He understood that this hatred stemmed from my frustration at not being able to retain a simple explanation or formula in my, which made me run from Math classes (especially if they were in the afternoon).

I expected that he would punish me for skipping classes, as most teachers would have done. Instead, he offered to give me extra coaching, willing to repeat a topic with me repeatedly until I got the hang of it.

For Mr. Oparinde, it was his sacrificial character that drew me to him. There were times when I was too sure that he would get tired of dull head and shoo me away, and I waited fearfully for that day. But it never came. Instead, he kept encouraging me to try harder.

There was a particular period when we had to write continuous assessment tests. The day we had the Math test, I took one look at the questions, packed my pens and left the hall, without submitting my empty scripts. Mr. Oparinde noticed during the marking, that my script was missing and he sent for me. After lying at first, I confessed that I did not submit my script because I could not attempt any of the questions.

He looked at me for a moment, and quietly handed me the questions and a script, sat me on a chair and told me to answer the questions anyway I knew. I took them and answered them the way could. Right in my presence, he marked it and handed my 5/30 script to me. Immediately, I started crying, grumbling about how I knew I would fail the test.

Mr. Oparinde did not say anything at first; he just let me pour out my sorrow. When I regained myself, he said, “Goodluck, when I gave you that test to attempt, I knew that you might not do so well in it. But, the reason I asked you to attempt it was to teach you that you cannot know how much you know until you put yourself to the test. If you keep running away from Math because you are frustrated by it, you will never learn to face your problems, even after you leave this school.”

What amazed me the most was his patience to explain all these to me – something that I had never experienced with any teacher. From that day on, he became “intentional” about my improvement. Undoubtedly, he left a mark of sacrifice on me, one that will remain indelible for years to come.

7. CORPER TOSIN

When this man first taught me, I remember that it ended in an argument between Joan, him and me. Being a corp member who had an impeccable way of dressing (SS3C students will relate better), it was not surprising to see students flock around him. It was almost impossible to see him by himself.

Most teachers grew agitated by this – often giving us “coded” warning against sexual predation. I understand that they meant well. I mean, who would not be worried, considering the increase in reports of sexual exploitation by male corp members on their naïve students?

However, I found myself drawn to him as well, after he helped me during my preparation for a particular debate. My Dad’s laptop which I usually used for research was not available because the owner had traveled. Nobody in my house had a smartphone (thank God for deliverance) and the debate was two days away. I thought of meeting some of my female teachers to borrow their phone, but I had one problem – most of them were unapproachable.

So, I was almost in panic-state when Corper Tosin noticed my look. He asked for the reason behind my nervous look, but I was hesitant. “What would be said of me if a teacher saw me using his phone? Wouldn’t they feel like I was flirting with him?” Despite my fears, I went ahead to voice out my need to him and as I expected, he was too willing to help. He gave me his phone to browse with and even suggested sites where I could find what I was looking for with ease.

True to my fears, a teacher saw me that day with his phone and called me into her office. In the presence of two other teachers, she blasted me seriously, accusing me of offering myself too cheap. In her words, she had been watching the way I interacted with him, and she knew that the way I was going, I would soon “carry pregnancy home to my parents.” She then warned me never to be seen anywhere near the corper again.

Thankfully, I flouted this instruction because I knew that her harsh words were not true. Here was a man who was simply interested in seeing me improve, and even made conscious efforts to set boundaries in our interactions. I knew that she was wrong to judge him based on the actions of others.

I have included his story in this list because my meeting him taught me never to judge people by societal happenings. He has been a consistent friend, even after leaving the school, and I cannot be more grateful to him.

P.S: I have forgiven that teacher, as it is not in the nature of true leaders to hold grudges, however painful.

8. MRS OLANREWAJU

For those who follow my posts on this space, you will recall one of my post where I spoke of a woman who made me rewrite essays repeatedly, as preparations for an essay competition. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the woman behind that military preparation.

I love Mrs. Olanrewaju majorly for her kindness. She has a heart of gold that makes her endearing to me. There was one of my classmates whose life she transformed by her motherly care. I observed at a distance how she became genuinely interested in her case, when it became obvious that the lady needed help.

I also learnt how to be thorough from her exemplary ways. That debate she prepared me for and subsequent ones instilled the spirit of thoroughness in me. I learnt not to pamper any error that could be corrected.

I also owe her and Mrs. Adeyoonu and eternity of thanks for footing the bills of my NECO exams. They recognized that I was in the eye of the storm as regards the payment of the exam, and together, they sacrificially took up that burden. I am indebted to them.

9. MRS OLOGUNAGBA

This beautiful woman only taught me in SSS1, until I decided to ditch Biology for good. Yet, it did not deter me from noticing her mother-like nature.

I include her as a hero on this list, because of her interaction with the members of her class. She was the class teacher of the science class, and she was undoubtedly the only teacher who connected with her students on a level that was too deep to be just a “teacher-student” relationship.

Her students were too free and relaxed with her. Each time I spoke with anyone from the science class, it was not uncommon for them to infuse some of her sayings into their speech, and at a time, I began to think that they did it unconsciously.

I also appreciated her dressing and gait. Good lord! This woman could pass for a beauty queen. There was never a time when her dressing did not stand out. She was always a beauty to behold.

_______________________________________

These nine heroes are not the only pillars that shaped my life. But, they are the exceptions who distinctly groomed me in character, composure and wisdom. I am grateful for the gift of meeting them, as well as other teachers who had a hand in my development.

To them all I say…

May posterity be kind to you!

May the sands of time honor your labor of love over this little writer.

Till I write you again,

I remain Goodluck Ihuoma Akinlawon,

Your #1 Mindset Preacher.