Situations are blessings, experiences are lessons, but challenges are harmless, all these I got to understand during my stay in Cactus International School.
I am an alumnus of the great citadel of learning Cactus International School Limited CISL, Ikotun – Lagos. I was a pupil for a period of six years (2010 – 2016) and graduated with the class set of 2016. I am currently a SSS 2 student at St. Francis Catholic Secondary School (S.F.C.S.S), Lagos.
My experience at CACTUS is a part of me I cannot remember to forget. Six years of achievements. Six years of sleepless nights. Six years of challenges. Six years of drama. Six years of friendship. These six years I would say formed me to be the kind of person I have become today. It seems just like yesterday when I walked into the compound in 2010 as a young naive girl with a completely clueless and blank mind and walked out on Wednesday, 13th July 2016 as a reformed, bold and confident young lady with a goal in mind. My stay in CACTUS were filled with sweet memories that I will forever live to remember, bad memories that made me a better person today and ugly memories too that made me strive for the best and realize that the sky is not only my limit but the starting point.
I was an active member of the Literary and Debating Club and I also represented the school in the NATION-WIDE SPELLING BEE COMPETITION that took place in 2015. I was an outstanding pupil in my class and the overall best in the school. I was a choreographer, ballerina, taekwondoist and also the leader of the Yoruba Cultural Dance Troupe. I won several awards like neatest pupil, best behaved pupil and the rest. I was also privileged to give the valedictory speech of the graduating class of 2016.
The motto of the school says ”Linking Learning to Life”. In my own opinion, I think it means application of knowledge in academics in your daily life. It helped me to derive my two mottos. The first which is ‘NEVER GIVE UP’ and the second which is ‘DO NOT REST UNTIL YOUR GOOD IS BETTER AND YOUR BETTER BECOMES THE BEST’. These mottos have helped me since then till now. I remember when I was preparing for my first competition in the Greensprings Taekwondo Championship in 2011. At first, I was like I could not do it but at the end, I put in my best and never gave up even in the toughest times and emerged in the third position. I told myself I could achieve better than that and I trained harder and prayed harder and in the next championships, I won gold and silver medals.
I would say CACTUS SCHOOL helped me to battle the monster called MATHEMATICS that I always had problems with then, broke the chains of the Federal Common Entrance Examination and swept the board of S.F.C.S.S Entrance Examination with outstanding displays in the subject. But if there is anything that makes me happy till date, it is that I left the school not just as an alumnus but also as a LEGEND. I wrote the Federal Common Entrance Examination and came out successfully with the highest score in my class. I wrote the St. Francis Entrance Examination and passed successfully to gain admission into the school. I also wrote the Entrance Examination into Phidel College and came with the highest score that the Administrator did not need to interview me, and I was granted instant admission the same day I wrote the exam. I am among the top five students in my class, and also one of the best mathematicians in my class since my JSS1 days. I am an active member of the S.F.C.S.S Press Club. I also broke the existing record of the school by becoming the first junior student to ever read news on the assembly ground. Without this sound and excellent early child learning exposure in CISL and the grace of God, I would never have achieved any of these aforementioned. I can say that I am a proud recipient of the “Cactus advantage” in learning. CACTUS has formed me physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
I left Cactus International School with great confidence and absolute trust in God that I am well primed to pursue my dream of becoming a Chartered Accountant, highly sophisticated and among the finest breed in the society.
I would say: “I came, I saw, I conquered”- VENI, VIDI, VICI.
AU REVOIR
PRISCILLA BUSOLA AYENI
2016 BEST GRADUATING PUPIL
APRIL 2019
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