LASU ALUMNAE WINS US CONSUL GENERAL’S AWARD
Rafiat Atanda, an alumnae of the Lagos State University who finished from the department of English, has won the US Consul General’s Award for Best Carrington Youth Fellow for the class of 2021/2022.
The award is usually given to the best Carrington Youth Fellow of the year for their exceptional commitment, passion, teamwork and creativity.
In her words, “I’d say I got the award because I displayed an uncanny level of aforementioned qualities. I covered a somewhat long kilometres every month to attend the knowledge sharing sessions. Not so convenient journeying, but one of our principles is “committment”. I signed up for it anyways and out of fairness to myself and the over 1000 applicants that weren’t selected, it was important that I gave it what was required. Of about 11 sessions, I was late only once. Plus, despite my 9-5, I dedicated reasonable amount of time towards the successful execution of my team’s (Civil Liberties) project “Juvenile Justice” which focused on equipping 50 juveniles at the Lagos Correctional Facility for Boys in Oregun, Lagos with digital skills as well as a stakeholders’ roundtable discussion on the challenges facing the juveniles and the establishment of a policy reform process with NIGAC.”
She further added “Other fellows found me valuable, as I was open to listen to their projects and offer to help when necessary. I contributed meaningfully to our random and intentional conversations and they could see my passion wasn’t a mere buzzword; it was really a burning desire to reimagine an equitably sustainable world.”
For context, the Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative, CYFI, is a dynamic youth-based initiative launched in 2011 by the U.S. Consulate General, Lagos. CYFI brings together Nigerian youth of exceptional vision, skills, and experience to design and implement projects that are having a positive impact on Nigerian society. The inspiration for CYFI was former Ambassador Walter Carrington; a champion of civil liberties, democracy, and closer ties between the U.S. and Nigeria.
We say congratulations to her and wish her more successes in the future.
About Author
Leave a Reply