In its maiden edition, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Great Ife Alumni Association, Dallas branch United States of America on Thursday, 8th of February, awarded 52 students of the institution with a 10.2 Million Naira worth of scholarship for the 2022/2023 academic year.
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The initiative, according to Adeolu Esho, the President of the United States Chapter serves as a give-back support to the alma mater targeted to aid indigent students with financial constraints in their academic pursuits.
A scholarship award which subsequently is to be run annually has the pioneer beneficiaries selected based on certain criteria gauging from their outstanding academic performance, fascinating application, financial need, personal branding, and essay input.
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Our correspondent while speaking with one of the coordinators said the scholarship initiative isn’t the first ‘give-back’ project to the University. ‘We have been supporting Angola Hall for years and have not stopped. We have collaborated recently in supporting Alumni Hall projects and also currently examining other areas needing intervention’ He stated. According to the coordinator, the beneficiaries of the scholarship award are to be tagged ‘Dallas Scholars’ and are expected to be good ambassadors of the Dallas OAU Alumni branch.
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OAU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Simeon Bamire in his welcome address at the ceremony held at the University’s Oduduwa Hall, appreciates the support and input of the alumni association geared towards the growth, development, sustainability, and maintenance of the institution while urging the beneficiaries to emulate them.
The President, of the Great Ife Alumni Association, Dallas branch USA, Dr. Tunde Adeyemo in his speech congratulates the 52 scholarship awardees, considering themselves lucky among the 35,000 students populace. He further cited various projects the association has accomplished towards supporting its alma mater- donation of health care equipment to the university health centre, construction of borehole water system and perimeter fence of Angola Hall of Residence, donation of equipment for processing transcripts.
Speaking on the scholarship initiative, ‘Many of our members in Great Ife Alumni Association Dallas identify with the struggles of the younger students who are now completing their education at OAU. We appreciate that there are many students who, though exceptionally brilliant, may need a little hand financially to make it through their degrees. We were there. We understand, he said. He further stated that necessitated the establishment of the alumni’s independent and sustainable scholarship fund to award annual scholarships for the 13 faculties of the University. ‘We will give out scholarships every academic session to indigent students who are diligent and who excel academically, the President added.
Our correspondent in an interview with one of the beneficiaries who already already lost hope since 2023, Tadese Ayodele Stephen, a 500L Dentistry student said he came across the scholarship offer online as it was not tedious through the registration process. ‘When I saw the message that I am one of the recipients of the scholarship award, I was surprised because the application was from last year’ he stated. Tadese appreciates the alumni for the initiative while serving as a morale boost for him.
Sobanke Oluwadoyinsola, a 300L student of Medicine and Surgery feels elated for the opportunity, expressing profound appreciation to the Dallas alumni body. ‘To be very honest, when I saw the requirements, I was a bit discouraged cause I was not really sure if I could write a personal statement or what my CV would look like. I just decided to give it a try’ She said.
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The President of the Alumni Association Dallas branch, Dr. Tunde Adeyemo in an interview with our correspondent admonished the non-beneficiaries to keep ‘putting in the hard work’ and strive hard while in the outlook for subsequent Dallas scholarship fund as they might likely increase the number of beneficiaries.
Speaking with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation, and Development of the University, Prof. Akanni Akinyemi expressed his seamless gratitude to the Dallas OAU Alumni body while admonishing the non-beneficiaries to further seek scholarship opportunities without getting discouraged as there are numerous. According to him, ‘Supporting human capital development is the best investment anybody can have in the world. Young people who are not well trained or catered for, pray from now till eternity, you’re breeding robbers, the DVC said.