Fellow Old Boys:

 

Welcome to 2019!

 

I wish you and your families a healthy and most fulfilling year.

As I assume the position of Chairman of the GCIOBA North America Branch, I want to recognize the
leaders who have brought us this far. On behalf of our great association, I thank Ade Popoola (my
immediate predecessor), Folarin Olubowale, Deji Otegbeye, Sola Seriki, Kayode Majekodunmi, and
Gboyega Delano. For nearly two decades, they have charted for us a course to which if we remain true
and committed, we shall continue to have, even in greater measure, the positive impact that we all wish
to have on the lives of the young boys who attend our school now and those who’ll do so in the years to
come.

Much has been done; yet, much remains to be done. I am however encouraged by the fact that the
stars seem to be better aligned today than they have been in the past in favor of obtaining good results
from our efforts. Sustained effort by our leaders in Nigeria have resulted in concessions from the Oyo
State Government (OYSG), perhaps the most important of which is the one that allows our association
to have greater input in the selection of applicants who will be admitted to the school. I am sure that
most of us agree that quality of incoming students was a big factor in making GCI what it used to be.

 

Greater influence is, however, usually accompanied by greater responsibility. The GCI School Governing
Board, whose overall purpose is to manage the school in partnership with the OYSG, is now established
and functional. So is the GCI Educational Foundation with the purpose of raising and managing funds
that will be used to meet our financial responsibilities as dictated by the partnership agreement with the
government.

 

I am happy to report to you that our North America Branch have started contributing financially to the
Educational Foundation: for the 2018 Calendar Year, we contributed a sum of $15,000 (Fifteen
Thousand U.S. Dollars). I take this opportunity to thank all our members and GCI friends who
contributed generously to our fundraising effort before and during the September 2018 Atlanta Old
Boys Reunion.

 

For 2019, our goal is to contribute $25,000 to the Foundation. Toward this end, we plan to have a year-
round fundraising effort which will culminate in the grand finale at the Baltimore, Maryland, Reunion
scheduled for September 20-22, 2019, and we plan to get every single one of us involved. Please, when
you hear the call, do respond generously. I want to make a pledge to you that the Executive Committee
shall keep you abreast of activities of the School Governing Board as well as that of the Foundation. We
shall request for, and in turn make available to you, relevant information on the Foundation’s
stewardship of the financial resources in its care.

 

On to a different subject. I must thank our members who contributed to the financial support that we
gave to the family of our departed brother, Pastor Adedoyin Oke. Oke’s classmates started with a
modest goal of raising $1,000 among themselves but then, others who were not in their Set got involved
and $3,000 was raised within one week. It was a most inspiring demonstration of brotherhood even

though we wish that the circumstance was different. The money has since been transferred to Mrs Oke
in the name of GCIOBA-NA and she has expressed her gratitude.

 

Finally, let me turn the focus to us. A generation of us is now advancing in age and we need greater care
in every sense of the word: physically, emotionally, spiritually. For some of us, much of the support that
we need is found within our household. But some of aren’t so lucky and could use support from friends,
good friends. I want to encourage us to reach out more to one another; make it a point to call and chat
up one of us at least once a month. If you already do this with one person, increase that to two persons.
Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of the GCI
family, in the finest sense of the word.

 

Go out there and have your best year yet. And may God go with you!

 

Sincerely,
Adeyinka Adenekan
Chairman, GCIOBA-NA
’73 January – ’77 ; Powell House