The Journey
The idea of an association -GMSS Evwreni Old Girls Association was birthed as far back as 1999 by Iveoghene Scott-Emuakpor, precisely one year after she graduated. She drew her inspiration from the strength of St. Patrick’s Colledge Asaba Old Boys Association which her Dad was an active member of. Seeing the excellent work and influence which old students could bring about became her motivation.
She discussed with Obiajulu Uzoigwe, who shared the first draft of the proposed ‘association constitution’ for review.
Many years later, in 2009, Ive got Alero Ikomi on board. Alero had formed a yahoo group/hangout for old girls, which later metamorphosed into a Facebook group page created in 2009, exactly 14 years ago, where old girls could meet up virtually to interact and share memories.
From there, they began to rally members to get on board. The first-ever meeting consisting of 3 members, occurred at Water Park 31/37 Toyin Street, Allen avenue Lagos in 2010. It had in its attendance Obiajulu Uzoigwe, Alero Ikomi Okhaizabor and Ive Scott-Emuakpor. It was a breakfast meeting; we deliberated on ways to make the idea of an association work.
We tasked ourselves with getting old students we were in touch with on board. Ive moved a motion to adjourn the meeting to a later date.
The next meeting was held in 2011 at Excellence Hotel Ogba, Lagos.
At this point, a decision was reached to take the bold step to plan a reunion in 2012; discussions were ongoing with other old girls around the idea of an association. It was agreed that anyone who was able to attend the reunion would have given enough indication of their desire to serve, thereby expanding the membership and getting more people to commit to the association.
We had our first reunion in 2012. The reunion took place at Canewood Hotel Warri. The reunion was very well attended, given the timing and was generally a success story.