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Ayomide (My Joy has arrived)

Author: Hay Pen
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

The following Monday morning, in Nightingale Academy, was a very exciting one. The students had just finished the daily devotion, led by the chapel prefect, when the principal walked in on them. He wore the brightest smile no one had ever seen on him. With his walking cane, he made his way to the podium and ushered the chapel prefect back to the line. He cleared his throat, while he showed out a document, he had held behind him, with his free hand.

“Boys and girls!” He smiled again. His lips parted, yet no words came. It took another minute before he gained his composure. “I have good news!”

This brought ecstasy to the students. They all yearned to know what the principal had for them.

“This morning, I received an email,” the principal continued. “It was from the Olympiad. It contains the result of our student in the qualification exam written on Saturday.”

“Quiet!” the vice princip

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  • Glimpse of Hope   Anticipation

    It’s already towards the end of July, 2018. Students and teachers of secondary schools within Heart city anticipate the beginning of the Mathematics Olympiad TV Quiz show which will begin on the 4th of August, 2018.In Nightingale Academy, the students had just finished their third term examination for the 2017/2018 session. The JSS 3 students however, didn’t take part in the examination as they have written the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), a few weeks before. Since they wrote the BECE, Ayo along with Funmi and Oreoluwa had ample time to study well for the competition. They believe they were more prepared than ever.Meanwhile, the duo of Perfect and Emmanuel also looked forward to the competition. They had just finished their examination a day before and had begun preparing for the Mathematics Olympiad. Although they have been preparing before now, they believed it wasn’t enough. Their mathematics teacher was also readily available

  • Glimpse of Hope   First Prelim

    “Welcome to another exciting season of Olympiad, your favourite mathematics TV quiz show for secondary schools within Heart city, a city for all,” the quiz master anchoring the competition said, all at once with smiles on his face.The quiz master is live on stage in Ace TV studios with 6 contestants in front of him and an audience behind them, who sat in three rows and ten columns. The seats, on which the audience sat, were arranged in a stadia-like manner. Each row has a minimum of 40 seat space. The six participating contestants for that day were standing in front of a pulpit each, with a digital in-built screen on the surface. The in-built screen is a digitalized device in which the contestants would use in providing answers to the questions asked. The quiz master is also standing in front of a pulpit similar to that of the contestants. The only difference is that he uses his to read out questions and monitor points of the contestants. The 6 pulpits of the con

  • Glimpse of Hope   Couldn't Make it Once

    “Ladies and gentlemen,” the quiz master began to say, after the applause had subsided. “There we have our six contestants in the junior category. They are about to go through two rounds.” He paused to observe both the contestants and the audience. The joy on their faces gave him the reassurance he needed. This competition still holds value and he was glad to be its anchor.“The first round is 12 objective questions where they each have 5 seconds to input their answer on the digital screen in front of them. At the end of round 1, the top 3 contestants with the highest score move on to round 2” – he chuckled – “which is the Olympiad 60 seconds of fame.“In round 2, each contestant will be given 60 seconds to provide answers to questions as much as possible. At the end of round 1 and 2, the two contestants with the highest combined score in both rounds, move to the semifinals.”The quiz master sighed

  • Glimpse of Hope   Who was Disqualified?

    “Oops!” Funmi sighed.” I would have skinned her alive if she had answered that first question wrong.”Funmi was seated among her school mates at the left flank of the audience seats. They had taken position at a vantage point where they could have a good view of their very own, Ayomide Cole. Funmi was however not happy with Ayomide for entering a tiebreak with a student that scored below her in the qualifying examination.“Funmi, you are talking now,” Perfect said. She was also one of the students, from her school, that have been given the grace to witness the competition first-hand. “Can you even answer that question?”“I…” She wanted to say but her voice trailed off as she heard what Perfect said next.“At least she scored above you in the qualifying exams!”“Third tie break question!” Al-ameen, a JSS 3 student said and held his hand on his head. He w

  • Glimpse of Hope   60 Seconds of Fame

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  • Glimpse of Hope   Stray Hope

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  • Glimpse of Hope   I Remember

    Back at home, on Monday evening following the first preliminary stage of the Mathematics Olympiad, Bukky was watching the video clip on television, because she wasn’t present to watch it live as events unfold. Ayo on the other hand was getting herself prepared for the semifinals, which obviously wouldn’t come until all preliminaries had been done.“Hey, Ayo!” Bukky, well relaxed on the comfortable two-seater couch, called out. “Did you notice how that girl kept looking at you?” She asked without turning to look at Ayo, instead she was focused on the television and pointing at it with the remote control on her hand.“Which girl?” Ayo asked curiously. She was seated in the study section, adjacent to where Bukky sat. It had just a chair and a table, which contained various study materials stacked neatly upon one another. She looked up from the tablet she was holding while she disconnected the wireless headset from her earhole.“The one in blue striped uniform.”

  • Glimpse of Hope   Good Old Days

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  • Glimpse of Hope   The Hangout

    It’s Saturday evening, a week after the misunderstanding between Ayo and Bukky. Ayo along with Funmi and Oreoluwa just arrived at the Heart City Shopping Mall, where Anu had promised to meet with them. She dialed Anu’s number after a few minutes of waiting, with no sign of her.“Go into the restaurant section. I will meet you there in five minutes.” – Anu had told her over the phone.They walked into the restaurant and found a table near the glass wall that served as a demarcation from the outside. Ayo picked that spot because it would enable her to see everything going on outside. They settled on the seats around the table, leaving an empty for Anu. Before Anu’s arrival, they had ordered chicken fries and began enjoying the meal.True to Anu’s word. Less than five minutes after they had settled, she strolled in, flaunting a pink one hand bag. She had previously seen them while entering the restaurant, so she headed towards them immediately and soon took her seat.

  • Glimpse of Hope   Entanglement

    The following day was a Sunday. Ayo was alone in the study room in their home. She and her family had just returned from church service. Her mom was resting as her pregnancy is now very much visible. Bayo had returned to school after church service that afternoon and her step-dad, who had driven him to the car park, was yet to return.Ayo went over her ordeal of the previous day; qualifying for the Olympiad finals, which was a dream come true for her but not totally fulfilled as she still had a gold medal to win. Meeting Anu, her childhood friend, was another thing she had been excited about. Thinking of Anu, She dashed to her room and ransacked her school uniform where she found the paper Anu had given her. It was just where she left it, in her breast pocket.She brought out her smartphone, which her step-dad gave her as a gift on her last birthday. She had rarely used the phone since then. But today, she was going to use it.“Hello,” –

  • Glimpse of Hope   Revelation

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  • Glimpse of Hope   Malevolent Intent

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  • Glimpse of Hope   Becoming Famous

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  • Glimpse of Hope   Honour

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  • Glimpse of Hope   Self Doubt

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  • Glimpse of Hope   Hidden Intentions

    “Audience, what do you think?” the quiz master asked rhetorically. The first round had just come to an end and everyone awaited the result. “It’s been an interesting and amazing first round,” he said to the contestants.The contestants couldn’t hold their anxiety, as they all stood on the toes awaiting the quiz master’s next words. He smiled before he continued, “I would have loved to see all of your faces in the semifinals but” – he sighed – “that’s not possible.”“Which three among them won’t proceed to the second round?” the quiz master asked yet another rhetorical question, which further puts the anxiety of the contestants on edge. They stole glances of one another as they waited.“Wow!” He looked down on the digital screen and up at the audience. “The scores are really close. I mean really… really close and definitely th

  • Glimpse of Hope   Hypocrisy

    “I really liked it as Ore and Ayo are placed together in the semifinals,” Funmi said as they settled in their seats, ready to witness the first semifinal stage of the mathematics Olympiad.It’s been quite an interesting Olympiad, which has seen 54 contestants against one another in 9 different stages, in each of the categories; Junior and Senior. In each category, each week had always featured 6 contestants and at the end, 2 contestants would emerge as winners to progress to the semifinals. At the end of the preliminaries, there were only 18 contestants left who were further divided into 3 groups; each group having 6 contestants to battle for the top 2 again, who will then advance to the finals.Here it was, the first semifinals! The first six contestants stood as usual behind each of the pulpits while the quiz master was at his. The stage lights had already been lit and each of them seemed anxious as to what the first round held.“I wish both of them good lu

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