Seventy young graduates have been awarded scholarships to sit for standardised tests and overseas study applications by the i-Scholar Initiative (i-SI).
The initiative is a nonprofit organisation that identifies and prepares self-driven student and young African scholars for advanced/graduate-level opportunities in select countries.
Speaking during the onboarding ceremony for the 2023 scholarship awardees, i-SI Secretary, Olufemi Fajolu, said the award will cover the payment of tests such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) which are required by universities in North America and Europe.
The scholarship also covers payment of a predetermined number of graduate school application fees while awardees will receive end-to-end mentorship.
While speaking on the theme, “Dream Big, Go Far: Empowering Young African Scholars with iSI”, the guest speaker and i-SI board of trustees member, Mr Uwem Ukpong, challenged the awardees to represent the country well wherever they find themselves.
The VP, Global Services at Amazon Web Services (AWS) urged them to create connections, acknowledge their gaps, be resilient and to take calculated risks in their academic sojourn.
He listed other qualities needed for greatness to include having great desire for knowledge and setting strategic priorities for themselves, adding that “when you take risks, things may not go the way you want and that’s why you need to be resilient. Find time to gain more knowledge about things you don’t already know.”
Also speaking at the event, President and Founder of i-SI, Victor Ogunmola, said 166 of the 185 Nigerian graduates awarded scholarships by the organisation between 2019 and 2022 have since secured $23.5m in grants from universities globally.
“What we have that we cannot even quantify is the end-to-end academic and career mentorship, and this is one of our staying power,” Ogunmola said.
Two beneficiaries, Habib Usman and Chinda Favour, thanked the i-SI for the scholarship while assuring to make judicious use of the opportunity.
I-SI partner and Associate Director at CBRE Inc, Olubunmi Osazuwa, urged the awardees to steer clear of drugs, adding that “we have a drug epidemic in America. Only accept medication from health providers because you don’t know what other people take.”
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