Dipo Olowookere
Two participants of the InterswitchSPAK 1.0 National Science competition, 16-year-old Stephany Chizobam Ugboaja of Jesuit Memorial College, Port Harcourt and Favour Alozie of Marist Brothers Juniorate, Uturu, recently emerged best overall and best male candidates respectively in the 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
While Stephany was the overall best WASSCE candidate in Nigeria this year, Favour was the best male WASSCE candidate from his state of origin.
Incidentally, both students hail from Imo State and have since been awarded full academic scholarships to study in any university of their choice by the Imo State Governor, Mr Emeka Ihedioha.
Stephany and Favour were part of the top 81 InterswitchSPAK 1.0 finalists and their participation at the InterswitchSPAK 1.0 spurred them to study hard to advance through the rounds at the competition. This contributed to their overall incredible performance at their WASSCE examinations.
During the InterswitchSPAK 1.0 Innovation Challenge, both Stephany and Favour were in different groups, tasked with proffering a solution ‘to help promote learning beyond a formal Institution, as a tool to tackling the out-of-school issue prevalent in our society’.
“It is exciting to know that the male and female students who came out overall best in this year’s WAEC, were also a part of our InterswitchSPAK programme.
“No one can dispute the possibility that the InterswitchSPAK programme helped prepare them for those exams. This further proves that what we do at InterswitchSPAK enhances the learning abilities of the students,” the Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Interswitch, Ms Cherry Eromosele, commented.
She said further that, “This is also a wake-up call for other indigenous brands to contribute towards ensuring that Nigerian children have access to quality education, regardless of status and background. Indeed, Interswitch is proud to have been associated with the success of Alozie Favour and Ugboaja Chizobam Stephany, who came out tops in the 2019 WASSCE.”
The InterswitchSPAK 1.0 Switch-a-Future project is a CSR initiative of the company focused on driving increased interest in the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects among Senior Secondary School students across Africa.
The project gives the participants a robust experience that inspires them to become Africa’s problem solvers and catalysts for job creation.
The second edition of InterswitchSPAK has commenced and the top 81 finalists were hosted to a Masterclass recently.
