OVERVIEW
It has been observed that most graduates from Nigerian universities often make the mistake of graduating from the university without adequate preparations for the world outside the walls of the school. Students are usually carried away by the illusion of the university system; not realizing that the world outside the school is different in many respects. They are forced to learn the dynamics of the outside world by experiencing it themselves when they graduate. Not many students are fortunate to adapt to the very unfriendly nature of life after school. Arguably, this unfortunate situation is caused largely by the deficiencies in our educational system, which focuses more on academic development leaving other areas of human development and empowerment unexplored.
The challenge is therefore on the students themselves to find ways of self- development and empowerment.
It is the forgoing that has necessitated this project to avail especially FINAL YEAR students of the opportunity to develop themselves and prepare adequately to face the challenges of life after school.

The PEARL ACADEMY is a training program designed to avail students of tertiary institutions the opportunity to develop the right PERSONALITY (character, attitude, etc), discover and develop the right LEADERSHIP skills and values as well as other relevant skills that they will require post –graduation, to position them properly to integrate effectively in the corporate world as well as succeed in other endeavours. Also, realizing that while a few students do business informally, a lot more students have lots of business ideas and talents they could convert to businesses. However, they don't know how to transform their ideas to enterprise. Sad enough, most students don't even know that there is something called a business plan let alone how to develop one. To this end we seek to challenge and motivate the students to begin to think like ENTREPRENEURS and possibly have a BUSINESS PLAN & CURRICULUM VITAE at the point of graduation.

THE NIGERIAN YOUTH
The Nigerian Youth, he dwells
In a land where wealth sure abounds
A voice of lack from the pit resounds
A cry from the leaders of tomorrow
Lamentations laden with deep sorrow

The Nigerian Youth, he hails
From an ancestry of golden stock
Where good morals is a bed rock
But gradually turned into sinking sand
From the deceitfulness of the leading hand

The Nigerian Youth, he sees
The perils ravaging his potentials
His hidden skills, his credentials
Swallowed up by opportunities deficit
Making him turn to a life so illicit

The Nigerian Youth, he dreams
Of a land where mortals know no bounds
In the land where wealth abounds
Where impossibilities are achieved
And inaccessibility’s are retrieved

Wake up from sleep oh young generation
Make an impact with every of your decision

PEARL ACADEMY…..turning Nigerian youth into radiant gems

SUB PROGRAMMES
Under the PEARL ACADEMY, we shall have the following Programmes.
1) PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.
2) THE PEARL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUB
3) THE PEARL SOCIAL CLUB
4) THE PEARL VOLUNTEER CLUB

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.
There is an urgent need now, more than ever before, to begin to breed new sets of graduates with proper training in character and personality; especially at this time when employers are complaining about the low quality of graduate products being churned out of our nation’s tertiary institutions. The post-UME screening initiative of the universities intended to ensure that quality is restored and enshrined in our university system is a monumental milestone that is highly commendable. However to ensure a holistic development of the students, equal or perhaps more attention should be accorded character formation and development.
Winston Churchill aptly posited at the end of World War II, that as we enter the 21st century, young people are confronted with unparalleled opportunities and challenges that will require of them greater intelligence and greater strength of character than perhaps any previous generation in history.

TARGET PARTICIPANTS
The PEARL ACADEMY shall target students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria as well as Secondary and Primary schools.

COURSE CONTENT
1) Personality development (character/attitude)
2) Personal effectiveness ( Stress/Time management and organization skills)
3) Effective Communication skills
4) Money management skills
5) The art and act of Leadership (Personal Leadership/ Leadership values)
6) Social responsibility/volunteering
i) Identifying the right characters and attitudes of a good student as well as civilized
human beings
ii) Self assessment practical tests to evaluate individual personality status
iii) Practicably methods and strategies of developing good new habits, discarding bad old
habits, improving on good old habits as well as expressing latent good habits
iv) X-ray character formation processes.
v) Developing the personal qualities required to participate in the formal workplace/
corporate organizations for graduating students preparatory to entering the job market
vi) Preparing for leadership with special focus on leading by humility and example (servant leadership) as well as imbibing the right values.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
At this program, students will learn how to:
i) Identify the good characters expected of a graduate, as well as civilized
human beings when they are outside the walls of the University
ii) Evaluate their present personality status using the self assessment tests.
iii) Consciously develop and express the right characters
iv) Cope in the corporate world
v) Consciously develop and express the right leadership traits and values.

To achieve these objectives the training shall cover the following areas.
The courses are broadly designed to cover areas of self-realisation, self- development/empowerment for self-actualisation (determination)

POISE AND DECORUM This training is intended to help the participants (students) bring about greater ease and poise in their daily life. "You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jelly beans- RONALD REAGAN Course will deal with soft skills enhancement in table manners, social awareness, proper decorum and impression management with emphasis on
• Posture, Charm, dress skills
• Maintaining personal space
• etiquette, image, hospitality
• Business & social introduction
• Conversation skills dos and don'ts
• Telephone etiquette
• good interpersonal skills
• remembering names and using them
• how and when to shake hands or greet others
• *First Impression
- Eye contact - body language
- Presence
- standing positions
• - Grooming and personal hygiene

PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
• Managing Yourself
• Understanding Yourself
• Stress Management
• Time Management and Organization skills
It's easy to feel overloaded with school work and de-motivated without knowing how to manage your way out of the situation This course helps you build insight into yourself, your studies and your future so that you can de-cluster your life and optimize opportunities.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Communication is something that can take place without conscious thought or planning. Effective communication, however ensures that the essence of communication is maximized
Learning Objectives:
• Learn a communication process.
• Identify common barriers to effective communication.
• Use proven strategies to overcome communication barriers.
• Demonstrate effective listening techniques.
• Learn the four stages of learning.
• Highlight the importance of effective communication in all aspects of their lives
• highlight the benefits of being able to write persuasively
MONEY MANAGEMENT Everyday we make choices about how, where and when you will spend your money. These choices can have a huge effect on our financial life. Do you spend a lot of money on phone calls? Do you save money regularly?
In this module, students have an opportunity to consider the lifestyle they see themselves
working toward and eventually enjoying. They examine some of the money management challenges they may have to cope with in order to realize their ultimate lifestyle goals.
• Recognize how they manage money
• Judge if it's time to change the way they manage money
• Identify steps they can take to better manage money
• Set financial goals and objectives

LEADERSHIP
The art and act of Leadership
Preparing to lead
Personal Leadership - Leading from within
Effective leadership
Leadership values

PEARL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUB
The PEARL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUB initiative is a pragmatic step towards providing technical as well as financial assistance to especially final year students who have viable business ideas and are able develop their ideas to marketable business plans either individually or collectively.
The club which will have a maximum of 200 students will provide a platform for networking among the members which will be broken into groups based on areas of interest, with various groups interfacing.
This club will start 1st semester next session.

REQUIREMENTS OF MEMBERSHIP;

Passionate about being self employed.
Possession of a business idea or ideas.
A registered member and student of the PEARL ACADEMY.
Further criteria will be set to screen applications received.

We are about to open discussions with some banks and other financial institutions to contribute to a pool of fund that will be used to support very marketable business plans from either a student or a group of students.

PEARL SOCIAL CLUB
Man is a social being. It is also often said that all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. . The University is not just about Academics. It is supposed to prepare the individual for the society. And for you to be able to integrate effectively you need to be able to socialize i.e meet and relate well with other people without necessarily becoming contaminated. Unfortunately a lot of students have the erroneous impression that socializing is about “gangsterism”, indecent exposure, ungodliness etc. this is not totally true. It depends on the activity and the manner in which it is handled.

The PEARL SOCIAL CLUB is about to redefine socials by creating platforms for proper socialization students. Socializing could help in letting out stress when school work becomes boring and depressing. Socializing is also good recipe for physical and mental well being.
Socialization if taken in the right dose could contribute to improved academic performance and make life in school more interesting.

ACTIVITIES
Theatre (drama, singing, dancing)
Picnics, tours, partying, sports etc

PEARL VOLUNTEERS
It is more fulfilling to give than to receive. Leadership is about service.
The PEARL VOLUNTEERS shall comprise all student members of the PEARL BUSINESS & SOCIAL CLUBS as well as other interested NON– PEARL students. These volunteers in partnership with other voluntary clubs on campus will periodically engage in community development activities in the communities around their school as well as participating in developmental projects within campus.

ACTIVITIES
1) Environmental clean up
2) Giving Career talks, free extra lectures to students in public secondary schools
preparing for CERTIFICATE Examination (SSCE, `NECO and UME)
3) Visitations to orphanages, old peoples home etc and other social
activities.
The objective of this initiative it to inculcate the spirit of rendering voluntary services, patriotism and philanthropy in the participant who will eventually graduate into the society.