Ibrahim Aishat is a 16-years-old SS1 student of Aiyetoro Senior Grammar School who lives with her dad (a business man) and her mother here in Lagos.
Before joining the W.TEC Academy, she attended a computer training during the holiday, where she learnt basically Microsoft office tools. She attended the Computer training because her brother who knew that she had fear for computers and ICT tools and knew she thought ICT was only for men encouraged her to, he was also the one who encouraged her to join the W.TEC Academy and she is happy to have made such once in a life time decision.
W.TEC Academy has further cleared her doubt about ICT and exposed her to a lot of opportunities and knowledge in the field, it has further helped her to decide on the career path she wish to follow in life. Aishat’s initial career choice was to be an actress but she changed that because she realized that she did not have the qualities and she decided to choose ‘’banking’’ because the ICT training has made her like typing, solving computer problems, calculating and imputing, sitting with the computer and making money through the business she now does (typing documents for private schools at a cost)
She kept coming for the training because she was learning lots of new things and she wanted to improve her computer skills. The skills she gathered at the W.TEC Academy has made her impact in/ teach her friends and other people a lot about ICT and computing.
Awotubo Mariam is a 13-year-old student of Wesley Junior Girls High School, Lagos and currently in JSS3.
She joined the 2015/2016 W.TEC Academy in order not to waste time, learn more, and to please her mother’s interest who usually says ‘grab every opportunity that comes your way’.
Her mother who is a business woman and an attendant in one of the gas stations here in Lagos once shared her experience with her and encouraged her to strive to be a better person in life and be greater than her (her mother) who did not have the luxury of opportunities especially in the growing field of ICT which she loved so much. Mariam’s mother tries so much to equip her with tools as possible as she can because she is the only child and she wants the best for her, her passionate mother even struggled to ensure that she enrolled her in a computer training center for 3 months during the long term holiday long before she joined the W.TEC Academy.
All of her mother’s drive for her to embrace ICT made her know that ICT is for both men and women and that ICT is difficult but when she joined the W.TEC Academy, she developed more interest for ICT and realized that ICT is broad, fun, challenging and inspiring- all these she gathered from the topics taught and style of teaching at the W.TEC Academy which made her always come back and not afford to miss any session. she was also impressed with the training, the new things she leant and the people (co student, staff, speakers and invited guest) she met at different times.
Mariam joined the W.TEC Academy late and this made it a bit challenging for her to catch up with her mates but she was able to scale through by studying hard and doing extra practice on her own. Mariam said happily ‘’ I never had a mobile device, installed a software application, or had any social media account before joining the Academy but now, I am close to being a professional in all of these things. I developed a better interest and impression about ICT when I started attending the Academy, the academy makes me feel the best about ICT. I am happy that I am able share the knowledge I learnt at the W.TEC Academy (including Alice 3 and Microsoft office) with some of my friends in church, cousins and class mate (I cannot mention in numbers), as it is now, a lot of my friends are waiting for me back home and in school to come and teach them what I learnt in the Camp after being selected as the best student in my school and given full scholarship to attend the 2016 W.TEC girls Technology Camp. I feel that I can improve more in the ICT field, ICT is very broad and I can only be better at it. Am glad that W.TEC Academy has added programming skills to me and made me outstanding among my peers’’
Mariam who now feels that her life has changed since she joined the Academy in a way that it has built a lot of trust in her for older friends and family members, they now feel comfortable leaving their computer, gadgets with her and she feels she can be more useful to herself, the society and family. She appreciates W.TEC and encourage that W.TEC should continue the good work they are doing and God bless them.
Mariam gives the ‘’career defining’’ credit to W.TEC because she did not know what profession she wanted to go into before the Academy, but she knew she did not like the sight of blood and knew Medicine is not for her, but during one of the career talks at the Academy, one of the speakers spoke well and encouraged that they should pick a career that is close to the subject they love in school, so since she like English, Mathematic, business studies and computer, she has chosen to study Banking and finance in the university and use the knowledge she learn in W.TEC Academy to make her profession better, she hopes to work in various technical department in the banking sector as well as join in building the lives of people in ICT later in the future.
Okongwu Emmanuella Nmasichukwu is a 12 year old JSS2 student of Onike Girls Junior High School, Onike. According to her, She joined the 2015/2016 W.TEC Academy because some of her friends were part of 2014/2015 training which was the first phase of W.TEC Academy and also because her aunty (a teacher) whom she lives with bought a laptop for her and her cousins, so she became optimistic to learn more about computing and ICT at large.
Before joining the W.TEC Academy, she had a neutral impression about ICT and did not really know what it entails, she developed more interest for ICT and realized the opportunities that surrounds it when she joined the W.TEC Academy. Although, she had access to ICT tools such as phones and laptops but began to use them more effectively and productively when she joined the W.TEC Academy- she now use her mobile phone devices to calculate, do presentation, surf the internet, solve problems as well as help others.
Emmanuella’s love for ICT grew stronger as she kept on coming back for the training and was even more curious about knowing more, she was always eager to finish the tasks and submit assignments given to her by the W.TEC Academy tutors. Emmanuella feels that the 2015/2016 W.TEC Academy was fun, impacting and has changed her life in a better way, she feels more confident to operate computers and other technological tools. She has been able to teach/ impact what she leant at the Academy in different people including her cousin whom she taught the Microsoft office tools.
Although Emmanuella wants to study Medicine in the university, but she hopes to use the knowledge, skill and opportunities she gets at the W.TEC Academy to be better at her medical profession. She chose to study medicine because she loves to help sick people and she is passionate about the joy of women.
Her Opinion about W.TEC remains positive and she feels happy to have benefited from the programme.
Mistura Sanni is a 16-year-old SS2 student of Birrel Avenue Girls Senior High School who lives close to her school with her parent and 2 siblings.
She joined the 2015/2016 W.TEC Academy because she wanted to improve her skills / knowledge about ICT and she wanted to clarify if the myth she had about ICT was true- her impression was that ICT is difficult. The thought grew even stronger in her she started asking people what they want to study in the university especially female but few of them said anything about ICT.
Her doubt and fear for ICT started to fade out when she joined the W.TEC Academy and started learning more about ICT, it techniques and when she started having the feel of the opportunities in the ICT world in the nearest future. She then realized that ICT is actually for anyone (female and male) who is determined.
Although, she had access to ICT tools such as computers and smart phones which she used mostly to chat with friend and play games, but her approach changed when she released from the Academy that there is more to it. She now does research online to make her assignment at school outstanding, she now tries to install more application that will make her become a better person as well as uses her brothers’ laptop and computer in school more frequently.
In quote, Mistura mentioned the reason why she continuously attended the W.TEC Academy- ‘’I kept coming because I saw that there were lots of things in place for me to learn and I could not afford to miss out in the grate opportunity and my mum was happy and encouraged me to never stop learning’’.
Generally, the W.TEC Academy has changed her impression about ICT and she believes that she can be a change agent in the society. Mistura feels happy that she has taught her brother, mother, friends and even people on facebook the skills she learnt at the Academy, hence, she commended that W.TEC Academy is a good programme.
‘’When I was younger, my mum use to buy me doll/ teddies while she bought my brothers car and computer toys and she also did not let me use my brothers’ toys more frequently. As time went on, my 3 brothers were always going to the cyber café and I always tried to go but my mum refused because she says that I am a girls and still young- this made me have the impression that ICT is hard and is only meant for guys, after making my findings and seeing facts, I realized that I was missing a lot, that ICT is fun and ICT is for everyone’’ said Nwosu Chidinma, a determined 12-year-old JSS2 student of Aje Comprehensive junior school, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos who lives with her parent and 3 brothers in Lagos.
Chidinma pleaded with her computer science teacher in school to ensure she joined the second phase of W.TEC Academy after she attended the first phase in the 2014/2015 academic year and did not really take the sessions serious. She decided to take that bold step after she realized the positive influence the programme had on students, how better the students that took the sessions serious became, and especially the ICT opportunities that the best and second best students were opened to (including full scholarship to the 2015 W.TEC Girls Technology Camp) through W.TEC. She took the bold step to meet with the girl who came first during the previous phase to ask her how she made it that high, she then promised herself to come out as the best student this time and worked so hard to achieve it.
She mentioned that her overall experience at the Academy was fun and fulfilling because she at a time became the god of the class, I got high scores in the test given in class and was triggered to always make researches on her own in order to know more and even be ahead of her mates. Her dream of becoming the best W.TEC Academy student came to past due to her determination and hard work and she is grateful to have come out as the best student at the end of the programme and also got full scholarship to attend the 2 weeks residential 2016 W.TEC Girls Technology Camp where she will learn a lot more about ICT.
Brothers, friends, school mates, and even Chidinmas’ computer science teacher in school have benefitted from her impactful and more confident self through the researches she made and things she leant in W.TEC Academy. She is happy that W.TEC has given her the opportunity to give back to the society, become a star at school and at home and also built more trust for people in her especially in the aspect of ICT.
In terms of choosing a career, the W.TEC Academy helped her to make a final decision during one of the career talks that they organized at her school where the speaker went through the ways of selecting a career for them. Since she loves to talk and get to the root of matters, she has chosen to become a professional Journalist who will use ICT tools to practice her profession more effectively and efficiently. She spoke to her dad about her desire to learn more about ICT and he has promised to buy her a laptop.
Chidinma is grateful to W.TEC and wishes them the best at their dealing.
Adeyemi Omotade, is a vibrant 9-year-old student of Herbert Macauley Junior Girls Secondary School, Ebute-metta, Lagos who performed excellently well and came first amongst other participants of her school in the 2015/2016. Her outstanding self, ever willing to learn spirt and brilliant act put her in this position. Omotade who is a 9-year-old girl got an unusual exception by W.TEC to attend the 2016 W.TEC Girls Technology Camp due to her amazing qualities.
Although Omotade was not really sound in ICT before joining the Academy but her mother who is a Headmistress in a private school here in Lagos teaches her a lot of things, erases all of her academic fears and encourages her accordingly to be a bright student at all time, this made her have the impression that ICT is simple and fun even before joining the W.TEC Academy and knew little or nothing about ICT.
Her love for ICT increased when she followed a friend to a cyber café center and someone told her that female have more opportunities and edge other male in the ICT field because they have more ability to assimilate and concentrate than any average male. She then decided to make the best use of the opportunities she get from the W.TEC Academy and strive to be best at it.
Her performace in ICT was not impressive until she joined the W.TEC Academy where she leant a lot of things technically and morally through practical ICT sessions and career talks. She kept coming for the training because it was always interesting and impacting, she learnt a lot of things and gained lot more confidence in herself in the ICT field to the point that she was always helping her computer science teacher in school solve computing problems and this always made her happy.
Adeyemi mentioned that her overall experience at the W.TEC Academy has been interesting, fun, and inspiring, her favorite session at the W.TEC Academy was Microsoft PowerPoint and Alice 3 Programming session.
Adeyemi is glad that W.TEC is part of her success story and she encourage that the organization should continue the good work with girls and women.
Agbata Juliet is a devoted participant of the W.TEC Academy who gives all it takes to attend the training every time and participate in an impressive way. She is a 16-year-old, SS2 student of Wesley Girls Senior Secondary School who lives with her aunty in Lagos.
Her initial impression about ICT and her current feeling about it changed in an interesting way due to the fact that she was fortunate to be a part of the 2015/2016 W.TEC Academy training- She thought that ICT is a no-no field for girls/women, ICT is hard, ICT is difficult and scary. Her friend who is the captain of her class in school and an active member of the Computer Department in her church realized the fear in her and encouraged her to be a part of the free W.TEC Academy training when the opportunity came up in their school.
She liked the fact that W.TEC Academy makes provision for their feeding/snacks during training and even transport them out of the school to the National Library to have a different experience and feeling of the training, the trainers, teaching style, career talks, excursion, mentorship programme, and most importantly the fact that the training is always fun, interactive, competitive and challenging gave her the strength to learn more as well as develop herself in the ICT field. To her, the W.TEC Academy has changed her in many ways- she has learnt to think creatively, interact better, made her believe more in herself, as well as learn to contribute to community positively.
Juliet’s passion for ICT grew incredibly to the point that she finds pleasure in training/ teaching her friends siblings, church members and computer teacher in school whatever she learns at the Academy and decided to pursue a career in Programming and Software Engineering.
Juliet sees W.TEC vision and passion to educate the male child as a great call and wishes to be a founder of an initiative like it in the nearest future.
Muftau Sherifat is 15-year-old, SS2 student of Herbert Macauley Girls Senior High School who lives with her father, a retired civil servant and mother who is a trader. Sherifat thought ICT was only for men because all the ICT/computer science teachers in the schools she has attended were men. This intension stayed in her until a young volunteer teacher who was in her school at the time W.TEC Academy began in her school encouraged her to join and clear her fears.
Sherifat became happy as at the time she joined the Academy because her hidden passion to learn more about computers and operate began to come to reality, she was even surpised that apart from the ICT training she benefited from W.TEC, career talks and other programmes were regullarly organized by them. She is delighted that she can make money with the new skills, she can impact the skills she learnt in others and she is more confident and sure of herself and she is now sure of the career she would like to pursue in the future.
To her, the W.TEC Academy has been fun, inspiring and her life has changed positively due to the fact that it has developed her in so many ways- surfing the internet and knowing different websites, productively using her androied phone, installation of applications on phone and computer systems, typing and having basic programming knowledge.
Sherifat will like to study Accounting in the university and she thinks that W.TEC can help her to be better at her career.