A Decade of Educational Excellence: The Charlie-Marie Story

The Charlie Marie story is indeed a unique one that is more than just an educational philanthropy. It stretches well beyond social, humanitarian to that of divine instructions for the founder and Proprietress of Charlie Marie Group of schools Ambassador Evangelist Adekunbi Akin-Taylor.

When in 2010, the Proprietress, Adekunbi Akin-Taylor purchased a piece of land at an underdeveloped remote village of Labori Oloja, a suburb in the Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, a location many described then as “the bush”, she had no idea it would end up as a model state-of-the-art school. Despite her long sojourn in England, she knew she would always retire home at some point in time. Adekunbi’s desire was then to have a mini estate she could rent out and have an assured source of income for her upkeeps which to her was simple and achievable. Unknown to her, God had other plans, which was a tougher option.
Ten years down the line, Charlie-Marie story is one of courage, resilience to survive challenges and remarkable testaments of overcoming the numerous hurdles all along the way.

Dateline 2012, after being saved from an early grave following a major surgery that almost claimed the life of the Proprietress, Ambassador Adekunbi Akin-Taylor recalls how God presented her a vision, while on a wheelchair with several soul-searching questions. “What if you didn’t survive? What legacy would you have left behind? Have you done all that you were created to do? These questions she says started agitating her mind. Thereafter, she was convinced she wasn’t doing her best yet for the Lord, despite her evangelistic efforts of travelling all over the world to preach God’s word.

Today, a decade of Charlie Marie can best be summarized as ten years of building a brighter future and still going strong. Ten years of shining light and brightening all dark corners around the host community of Labori Oloja. Ten years of imparting the lives of our young ones, teaching them sound discipline, and ensuring that they too impart the lives of others. Charlie Marie has become a beacon of hope which will not be dashed.

The establishment of the school was a path of destiny and fate which was another avenue for the extension of her philanthropy through education as a divine God-given mission. In a twist of fate, her Evangelistic callings was now to reshape destinies by building a brighter future for children thereby leaving a good legacy behind.

In 2012, Evangelist Adekunbi Akin-Taylor went ahead to build a school as against a mini housing estate. Though it was not an easy decision especially as she knew nothing about the locality. Fast forward, January 2014, after a lot of hassles, Charlie Marie opened her doors to the first school intakes with six children and six staff members.

It was a tough and rough ride from the onset. She was committed to setting standards and wanted to be different, her objective was to be an agent of change and the ultimate desire was for the children to be world class pupils and students.

Two years down the line, by 2016, Charlie Marie had grown bigger as an enviable academic citadel of excellence with infrastructure near completion. The school had become a household name in the neighbourhood. In that short while, the fast pace of the school had secured for her government approval for the nursery and primary school to the glory of God. Charlie Marie continued to maintain a good standard, and started venturing out. The greatest joy was seeing the children grow and improve rapidly. In her words, “we were indeed raising the bar and maintaining our standards and came first in the very first external competition we were invited to”. She said in excitement.

Although Charlie Marie is a beautiful and safe school with good infrastructure, the Proprietress says there was a unique challenge, as they were not charging high fees. “What should have worked for us was being used against us. Mischief makers kept telling false narratives about us, dissuading parents from bringing their wards to us, saying we were very expensive. Charlie Marie family kept overcoming challenges and moving forward ever but backwards never” the passionate educationist stated. She added that the children were doing very well within and outside the locality to the amazement of many.
Following the successes achieved by the primary school, there was growing demand for a secondary arm which led to the commencement of Charlie Marie College in September 2018. In no time, despite the very tough process of getting approval and keeping to the requirements for the Secondary School, the approval was not far-fetched.

Thereafter, the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) soon gave its own approval.
In 2021, Charlie Marie added the Vocational section to her group of schools. This comprises of Tailoring and Fashion Design, Information Technology, Electrical Installations and Home Economics sections.

As part of activities to commemorate the ten years anniversary of Charlie Marie, a week long line up of programmes were put in place by the school’s management. The schedule of events included Talent Hunt which was geared towards identifying natural potentials of pupils and students with the prospect of mentoring them in special areas such as music, instrumentations, art work such as drawings and painting, craft and much more. The participants were full of excitement as they demonstrated high sense of creativity amongst themselves. Winners emerged in different categories of activities and the school is looking forward to working with select individuals and organizations as a way of providing guidance to the children in those specific areas of their talents.

The second day of the outlined activities to celebrate the decade milestone of Charlie Marie featured keenly contested debate with very engaging topics of contemporary and national issues. The speakers did not fail to impress the audience who were left in awe with the outstanding demonstration of eloquence, confidence and charisma. The Debating Day was indeed one of fun that will remain in the memory of the children, staff and parents as gifts and prizes were presented to the winners in different categories.

The Anniversary Games were also part of the special activities put in place to celebrate the decade long establishment of Charlie Marie Group of Schools. It was a mini Olympics of some sort from the lighting of the Touch of Unity, as the Charlie Marie Academy athletes lit up the tracks and field at the ultra-modern six hundred capacity arena in a very colorful opening ceremony of the games with pump and pageantries. The games were without doubt of top class performances, a display of athleticism, mental toughness and discipline. The keenly contested 4 X 100 metres relay race was the highpoint of the day which left many impressed that the feature of sports was certainly a brighter one if the Charlie Marie tradition of catch them young and grassroots development is sustained.

There were also novelty basketball and table tennis games. Other side attractions included doughnut and noodles eating, music, dance and much more. Some neighboring schools and the children within the community were invited to unwind and be part of the commemoration of the decade long institution and fun.

The final day of activities marking the 10th Anniversary of Charlie Marie Group of Schools was indeed one to remember and cherish for long. The school celebrated the anniversary in grand style. The 10th graduation ceremony and End of Year Prize-Giving party were celebrated colourfully with four sets of graduands to different levels of education, namely from Pre-school to Nursery, Nursery to Primary, Primary to Junior Secondary and Junior Secondary to Senior Secondary schools.

Staff who had put in up to five years and above of service were specially honoured by the school Proprietress Evangelist Ambassador Adekunbi Akin-Taylor. They received award plaques, cash and other material gifts. A special bumper edition of the school magazine Charlie Marie World was launched. All serving staff of the school were also given special gifts as well as the founding and some dedicated parents.

There is no gainsaying that the school has come a long way from 2014 to 2024. It has been a long hard journey but very rewarding for the consistency and focus. The school has lived up to her Charlie Marie vision and mission to raise champions from the grass root and catching them young.

Expressing her gratitude, Ambassador Evangelist Adekunbi Akin-Taylor remains grateful to everyone who has been part of the Charlie-Marie success story. “My special appreciation to God for His grace, our dedicated, diligent and persevering management and staff, who daily sacrifice to support the Charlie Marie vision and mission. They have helped to provide quality education to our children, giving them a voice, a chance and a future”. She noted.

As Charlie-Marie celebrates this milestone, the Proprietor is optimistic of what the future holds, “It is a special time for us to retrospect, as we honour the past and cherish the present, in full confidence that God will shape our future. We shall, together and with combined synergy, continue to build a brighter tomorrow for all our children, their families, our community and the nation at large”. She enthused.

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