Messages of respect, integrity, humility and honesty reverberated on Sunday , June 6 2021 as old Grammarians, students and well-wishers congregated inside the expansive Church Hall as Nigeria’s oldest secondary school, CMS Grammar School, Lagos wrapped up the exciting, week-long 162nd anniversary celebrations of the institution.
The pride was not only in being Nigeria’s oldest secondary school, according to the sermon and earlier speeches by the current school authorities as well as members of the Founder’s Day Planning Committee of the CMS Grammar School. It was in the fact that CMS Grammar School, Bariga, Lagos has been setting high standards and setting good examples in the educational sector and ‘pluming the wings’ of students as they aim for higher heights.
President of the Old Grammarians Society (OGS), Mr Olu Vincent said as much when he said ‘’ no sacrifice or contribution would be considered too big or great’’ in sustaining the heritage and raising the standards of CMS, Bariga.
And so it was all good cheer on Sunday, June 6, 2021 when the old boys in their resplendent White attire blue cap sang ‘Up School, Up Boys’ and did a lot of back-slapping as they rejoiced and gave much colour to the Founder’s Day ceremonies. The music provided by the award-winning CMS band also added to the fun and excitement of the celebrations. The recognition of Old boys and wives of Old Grammarians was a part of the side attractions of the day.
The celebration of the many projects including the Olympic-size swimming pool, the four-floor hostel accommodation, the e-library; the multi-million naira Digitization programme, air-conditioning systems for the school hall and chapel was also part of the exciting highlights of the weeklong ceremonies.
Earlier in the week , the line up of events such as speech and prize giving day; career talks for students and students’ feast, signposted the high notes of the programme . It also showed the passionate and commendable efforts put up by the old students and the school authorities that love for school is ‘love that binds’ in the school that boasts of a rich heritage and tradition and prides itself on producing some of Nigeria’s best brains across all fields of endeavours.
Some of the Old Boys of the school include Chief Ernest Shonekan, Mr Akintola Williams, Late Chief Folarin Coker, Late Chief T.O.S Benson, Prof Oladipo Ogunlesi, Bishop George Bako, , Late Prof Ayodele Awojobi, Late Art Alade,Senator Gbenga Ashafa and Dare Art Alade, among others.
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