Welcome to November 2017 edition of the Professor Charles Effiong Foundation Monthly Newsletter.
In this edition, we bring to you our 2017 Career Fest Conference themed “Investment That Matters”. This annual conference brings together four hundred senior secondary school students across Cross River State. The conference is designed to provide good quality and adequate information on how to make good career choices.
In the first Career session, the students were inspired by the speaker Mr. Gerald Ada who spoke about the great new opportunities of the 21st century. The children were told about how others were taking advantage of the information technology revolution to make a global impact and how technology was disrupting old careers and creating great new opportunities which had not existed before.
The leadership session started with the speaker communicating the top ten skills that employers say they look for in employees. It went on to define leadership as influence. It did so by contrasting between several examples of different types of leaders. The students were made to choose who was the greater leader between examples such as Nelson Mandela and Aliko Dangote or William Shakespeare and Alexander the Great.
It sought to encourage an increased focus on the foundational building blocks of individuals and society; such as character, integrity, discipline, hard work, courage, creativity, love, perseverance and decried the present societal and educational focus on secondary effects; such as position, wealth, awards, fame, recognition and offices.
A platform was created were the children showcased their talent by performing a dance and drama presentation titled “Career Choice”. The message from the children was an appeal to parents to allow them make their own career choices.
Dr. Samuel Ekpata took the final Career session. He explained the various factors that affect career choices of students. According to the speaker, personality, education, location, individual and parental factors play vital roles in affecting the career choices of students.
He also mentioned that gender, childhood fantasies, role models and previous experiences also influence students’ career choices. Dr. Ekpata went further to mention and explain the consequences of making wrong career choices. These were; dissatisfaction and poor performance at work, anxiety, stress and social disregard. He stressed that if these consequences are not properly handled, an individual could become depressed, have low self-esteem which in turn will influence his/her ability to fully contribute to the society.
The climax of the event was an inter-school quiz competition. Seventeen schools were represented and the quiz had three rounds which covered basic science, current affairs, arts, careers and leadership. Four schools emerged as winners of the competition.
END VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN CAMPAIGN
Unfortunately, violence against children is on the increase in our society. Children’s right’s are constantly being abused in various forms such as rape, child stealing, child exploitation, slavery, etc. This poses a great concern and threat to our society as these children grow and become abusers of children and social miscreants.
During the month, the child protection arm of the Foundation visited selected secondary schools in the state to educate and thus sensitize teachers and students on various types of violence against children, its effects and the need to report cases of violence against children to appropriate authorities. The event featured questions and comments from teachers and students.
Upcoming Events at PCEF
- Medical Outreach- Saturday December 9, 2017
- Christmas Party- Saturday December 23, 2017