Dear Students, Staff, Parents, Alumni and Friends of JMC,
Greetings from serene and quiet Heights and belated happy feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola!
I trust that all who are currently on holiday are getting rested following a very busy academic year. be it at the Heights or anywhere else. Having worked so hard this past school year, you are deserving of a good rest, which you ought not deprive yourself for any reason. Mindful of the rigours of teaching and learning at the Heights amid very challenging economic condition this past year, a word of congratulations is in order to you all for a successful completion of the 2023-2024 academic session. While I congratulate our diligent staff and studious students, I express profound gratitude to our dear parents/guardians for their unwavering support, generous commitment and cooperation with the college throughout the session. In addition to helping advance the mission of the college, your support, commitment, and cooperation are testament to your aspiration for a peaceful and posperous Nigeria, of which we all could be proud.
Now, before I give you a peek into the coming academic year, permit me to share with you some highlights of the final month of the term/session. As is customary, the month of July was dedicated to end of term activities, chief among them being the end of term examination, which took place from the 8th – the 12th, as scheduled. Prior to the main examination week, the Phoenixes were engaged in the preceeding week with the practical component of the exam. Knowing the import of the term’s exam for the progress of their academic endeavour, the Phoenixes were committed, as always, to giving good account of their learning during the term and year. It is my hope that their commitment yielded the desired outcome following the publication of the examination results.
The tale of July at the Heights will be incomplete without the worthy recognition of the Phoenixes who participate in the Grand Final of the 2024 International STEM Olympiad at the Hague in Netherlands. The cohort departed the college on the 8th for Lagos having spent the first five days of the month taking their end of term exams. As the first participants of the college in the competition, their participation was historic, but remarkable more so, as they performed exceedingly well, making themselves as well as the college proud. That said, I wish to express sincere gratitude to Mrs. Obiageli AZOGU, who supervised the participation of our Phoenixes in the competition and coordinated their travels. In the same vein, I sincerely thank Messrs Dominic ENWUCHOLA, Oluwaseun MAKINDE, and John OGUNTUNDE for preparing them for the competition. Their resounding success is a testament to your depth of knowledge and effective teaching, which continues to yield enviable results. Lastly I wish to applaud the parents of our participants for their wholehearted commitment to the holistic education and formation of their children.
Among the many accolades won by our students in the junior category of the competition, the category under which all but three of our participants were enrolled, worthy of mention is the 2nd Place Best of the Bests Gold Medal Award won by Obatarhe Tobechukwu KOMORI. (Class of 2028) I congratulate him, indeed, the fourteen other Phoenixes who participated in the competition for being good ambassodors of the college on the world stage. I equally congratulate two Phoenixes of the Class of 2028, Oluwatosin Oluwaseyi OKUBOYEJO and John-Priestly Chimnechendum STEVEN-NWABUEZE, who excelled in the competition online and were deservedly awarded gold medals (see document I below for the list of medals won by our excellent Phoenixes at the 2024 ISTEM Olympaid at the Hague). The cohort returned to the college on the 17th to a warm welcome and were well celebrated by members of the college community for their great feat, which has earned them the coveted title, Phoenixes of the Month.
Moving on from the Grand Final of the 2024 edition of ISTEM Olympiad, I am pleased to inform those interested in participating in the 2025 edition, that the Grand Final will take place in Barcelona, Spain. Please know that by way of school policy, to attend the Grand Final of the 2025 ISTEM Olympiad, you ought to first register, and excel in the online competition.
Still on the recognition of our excellent Phoenixes, I am pleased to congratulate the Class of 2027 for their brilliant performance in their Basic School Certificate Examination (BECE). In the same vein, I congratulate their teachers, our team of Jesuit educators, for preparing them adequately for their first certificate exam of seconadary school. Thank you, so very much, and keep up the excellent work. In light of their brilliant BECE results and given their impressive performance in their Mock Certificate exam, it gives me great joy to inform you that Phoenixes of the Class of 2027 have all secured promotion to the first year of senior school which begins in September 2024. I congratulate them on this feat and wish them greater success as they begin this new chapter in their secondary education. (see document II below for the performance analysis of the BECE results of the Class of 2027)
In keeping with a vital feature of Jesuit education, reflection, the Phoenixes spent some days after their end of term exams, reviewing their living and learning experiences of the term/year. The goal of this important exercise remains to notice light and shadows, strength and weakness, and so to device means of increasing ones lights and strengths while reducing notable shadows and weaknesses. The closing assembly, an important event of the post-examination week, took place on the 17th and for most of the Phoenixes was an assembly to forget as those who for weeks, if not months, refused to comply with the code of Personal Appearance of students pertaining, were made to get a hair cut shortly after the assembly as over grown and bushy hair had a brush with a pair of scissors. That said, I wish to reiterate the importance of the Students’ Handbook as the guide for living and studying at the Heights for students which they must strictly follow from the time they arrive in the college on the day of resumption until they depart the college on the day of vacation. To do otherwise, is to violate the rules of the college for which there are prescribed sanctions as well as sactions left to the discretion of the principal. I hereby urge every Phoenix, to take some time and study the Students’ Handbook in its entirety so as to know the college’s expectations of you and how best to fulfill them for your greater flourishing and wellness.
Coming on the heels of the closing assembly was the closing Mass during which the missioning of the Class of 2026 for their much anticipated Service Project took place. The readings for the votive Mass of St. Ignatius of Loyola, patron of the college, were apt for the missioning exercise. On behalf of the college community, I wish the students on Service Project an enriching and transformative experiemce, which is only possible if they wholeheartedly and generosuly apply themselves to the project; giving of their time, talents, and treasures without counting the cost. That said, I urge parents/guardians to help their children/wards carry out their Service Project diligently to further awaken in the them the beauty of service by which, as humans, we live out our identity as stewards of creation. It goes without saying that the Service Project is designed to humanise our Phoenixes, thus make them agents of positive change in their respective communities and the world at large.
Departure from the Heights for the long awaited long vacation took place as scheduled on the 20th but not before the well organised and executed Talent Show during which there was an array of beautiful, creative, and breathtaking performances by the Phoenixes in gratitude to God for the successful year that they had experienced. I thank God Almighty for the safety granted to all the Phoenixes as they returned to their various homes on vacation day. My expression of gratitude is fitting, especially given the terrible condition of our roads many of which are impassable.
As we enter the second week of the holiday, it is only appropriate that we commence plans for the 2024/2025 academic year, which is about four weeks away for the incoming students. Would you believe it! In anticipation of the new year, I humbly implore everyone, staff, students, parents and guardians alike to do all within your power to begin the year on a pleasant and exciting note. Getting off the academic year to a good start will go a long way to making the year successful and fulfilling. On that note, I urge parents/guardians to review the checklist and ensure that your children/wards have all they need to live and study at the Heights. (see document III below for a revised copy of the checklist for students) Again, special efforts should be made to forestall the recurrent losing of personal belongings in the college by providing students with secure and portable padlocks as well as branding their items for easy identification and recongnition.
Moreover, in view of the laptop use that goes into effect in the upcoming academic year, I appeal to parents/guardains, especially of junior school students to ensure that their children/wards have essential knowledge of not only how to use the device but also of how to protect it from getting damaged. Obviously, we shall do our bit in this regard but starting the process at home will be of great benefit to our Phoenixes and to all parties involved.
On a very different note, I am pleased to annouce that registration has commenced for the 62nd North American Invitational Model United Nations (NAIMUN LXII) Conference scheduled to hold in Washington DC, USA from 13 – 16 February 2025. This past April, two Phoenixes of the Class of 2025, Keshaun Kosaluchukwu EGEMBA and Upright Chiemezuo EMEH, attended a similar Conference in New York, and testify to the fact that it was an amazing experience of learning and self-improvement. The conference is largely open to students in their second year of senior school, (SS2) but other senior school students could be given due consideration if they check certain boxes within the purview of student life. Meanwhile, I must quickly add that having a valid American visa makes registration less cumbersome and traveling more feasible. For further information about the Conference, kindly contact me. In terms of fees, registering without a valid American visa costs USD 5,900 (which excludes travel fares to Abuja for Visa Interview at the American Embassy) while registering with a valid American visa costs USD 5,750.
To conclude, I invite you to take some time and visit the website of the college. There, you will find a slide put together by the media team of the college depicting events of the 2023/2024 academic year. Let the slides awaken in you deep sense of gratitude for the journey of the previous school year and fill you with hope for the the year ahead. What is more, let the slides instill in you deep faith in the slow but steady hands of God constantly at work at the Heights, shaping and forming each and every one of us into the best versions of our individual and collective selves for our respective good and for the greater glory of God.
It is on this note of profound gratitude for what was, deep faith in what is and unwavering hope of what is to come that I draw the curtian on the 2023/2024 academic year and look forward to seeing you in late August or early Sepetember revitalized to take on the 2024/2025 academic year.
In Appreciation,
Fr. Alexander E. IRECHUKWU, S.J.
