About
TOPP Leaders
TOPP Leaders, like most of my ideas, was born inside a classroom. I had just transferred into a leadership course in grade 11 and the teacher, Mr. Yearwood, asked us a simple question: What are you going to do this semester? The assignment was to lead an initiative that would positively impact your community. The majority of students chose school-related ideas…” Let’s campaign for no homework on weekends” or “Let us start a recycling club at our school.” As the semester went on, even I led and participated in these clubs and campaigns, but underneath, I had an idea brewing. I saw a gap in the education system, a need that was often overlooked.
“Who needs this?”
I thought to myself. I pictured the youth who lived around me, my community, and I became stuck. Most of these kids lived a life just like mine and there would probably be no incentive for them to listen to my advice. Luckily, my mother reminded me that your community is not just the people you live beside. It’s a group of people united by common interests or backgrounds or goals. I instantly thought back to the youths in my home country, Nigeria.
I was born in Canada, I had really only been to Nigeria a couple of times, but still, I felt a strong connection with my family and the youths living there. In May 2018, I delivered my first motivational speech, physically to an assembly of high school students in Lagos, Nigeria. The crowd was thrilled to see someone closer to their age talking to them. The rest is history!
