The Agege Bread Podcast
I wanna have conversations with people about things that affect us all as a society. I find that I have lots of interest in many topics from public finance, taxation, government spending, to health and nutrition, personal development and finance amongst others.
The Agege Bread Podcast
DROFANDY EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING
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Drofandy Educational Consulting, (DEC) is a Canadian strategic academic consulting firm built on a simple premise: academic success isn’t accidental, it’s engineered.
DEC helps students and families navigate education systems with clarity and confidence, supporting them through the highest-stakes moments of their academic journey, transitioning into Canadian post-secondary education, choosing a program, transferring institutions, or adjusting to a new academic system entirely. Rather than generic advice, DEC delivers personalized pathway plans, strategy sessions, and structured support designed around each student’s specific goals, strengths, and circumstances.
What sets DEC apart is its blend of academic strategy and lived understanding of how education systems actually work, the expectations, the unwritten rules, and the gap between where a student is and where they’re trying to go. That insight shapes every plan we build, with one outcome in mind: helping students understand the system so they can thrive and graduate stronger
Inspiring and thought-provoking conversations with eminent thinkers and...
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Hello people, this is Emeka Uncle Pizza on the Agege Bread Podcast. Today I have something very exciting for you. It's something I don't think gets a lot of coverage. So when I ran into this beautiful lady, I said, I'm not gonna hear this story you have, I'm not gonna hear this program you have alone. I will do a recording so you can tell your story. I believe that people in the community, people who listen to my podcast, should be given the opportunity to hear what she has to offer. She runs a consulting business, it's not business management per se, it's a very unique niche that she has, and I will give her the opportunity. She has a master's degree in chemical engineering, a master's degree in education, and she has a PhD in environmental engineering. So, Dr. Mrs. Sandra Ukiwe. Hello, Sandra, how are you?
SPEAKER_01I'm very good, thank you.
SPEAKER_02Okay, tell me what is this consulting business you have?
SPEAKER_00Okay, um, thank you so much, Uncle Peter. Um, we ought to be here. Can I say good evening to our listeners?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so good evening. Good day, our listeners. Uh again, my name is Sandra Okibi. I'm an academic strategist. So I have many years' experience working in Nigerian universities and Canadian universities. So I currently manage the operations of Drufandi Educational Consultants. I know that sounds big. Uh what we do is uh making sure helping parents and students navigate and understand the Canadian system. Because every system of education is different. So things have been taught differently, they teach different materials, ways of teaching, everything is different from system to system. So most people, when they come here, they don't know that. Like same I didn't know that things were different, right? And those differences also produce different individuals. So what we do is make sure that parents understand these differences, so we bridge the gap between what they know about Nigeria and what happens in Canada. Because for students, it's not just succeeding, it's mostly information-based. It's not only about what you know. What you know is fine, but you need information about how to succeed in a different system. Because the system doesn't teach you, like, okay, if you go here, things are going to be different. Because I like I said earlier, everybody thinks that education is education, education happens.
SPEAKER_02You go to class, you are taught, you go home and you do exams.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, but the education system is different. So when people come, they don't know that difference, and students don't know their differences, but they are expected to perform within that system.
SPEAKER_02All right, wow. Uh, in my years of doing podcasting, I haven't really come across anything like what you're doing. That's that's what interests me. So, um, in your experience, how did you come about this knowledge that you've just dropped now? Because I'm sure you are there's a story behind that that led to the formation of this Jofandi, you call it Jofandi Academic Consulting, Educational Consulting. What was the story behind the formation of this consulting? Uh um I don't want to call it a business consulting um program.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, fair enough. Okay, um the story, the story behind the story. Okay so it's not um it's uh it's more like social impact. I know I we are supposed to make money from it, yeah. Every business makes money out of it but it wasn't about the money, it was about seeing what's happening in in the com in the country, not just in our community and among students. I told you I worked with students, I've always been with students, I've always worked with students. I've been in the university, I mean an academic advisor in the university. So I see firsthand what students go through. And I always take interest in students that are on transition, whether you're coming from high school to university or you're going from uh master undergraduate to master's or master's to PhD, I pay special interest because that's a very critical time to get to know the school and the culture of the school and how the system operates. So three things are I say very critical for students. You have to have a good strategy, you have to engage with the system early, and then you have clarity that you can consistently do something to succeed. So that clarity is very hard for students. So you see really, really smart students, and they they just they just find it difficult to succeed, or they just fail, or they just have issues that like it's just consistent, issue upon issue upon issue. You talk to students or their parents, like okay, my child is not doing well, or I'm looking at students' profile, I'm like, this this student is supposed to be a bright student, like see very good marks from high school, and then they come to university, something is off, and okay, bringing it out to our own community. I also notice that within our community, lots of students struggle, and honestly, that phase is also very critical because everything you do in school depends mostly on your grades. I know they say, Yeah, grades is not yeah, it's not all about grades. A student once asked me, is it only grades that we should care about in school? I'm like, okay, I have to be careful how I answer this question. We care about everything in school. Only grades can take you to the promised land. Give you an example for every scholarship you apply, they're looking at your grades, which is one, they're looking at intellectual curiosity. What do you do? Are you beyond your class? What else do you do? They are looking at your community engagement. How do you engage? How do you impact your community? So those things are very critical. However, without the grades, you wouldn't even get the opportunity to get to the door. So the grade brings you to the door, then the other thing makes you enter. And if you don't get to the door, you can't come in. So having looked at all these challenges here and there, and having worked with a number of students, work with students, and say, Okay, we can do this, we can do this, let's go this way, this way. I've I figured that this is something I should be doing in our in my own community at least, then be uh before other people.
SPEAKER_02Wow, um, this is interesting, like I said, and um I'm learning, I'm doing the interview, but wow, I'm mind blown because you hear a lot of things about education here, but this is the first time that I'm talking to someone who is actually in the system, someone who sees things firsthand and understands the problem. Um, let's bring it down to our community. Um, what would you say, in your opinion, are the most significant challenges that face the people who, especially people who come from Nigeria to Canada and they just get into the education system. What particular challenges do they face and how can Drew Fanbi come in to you know mitigate these challenges and make sure that these students become successful?
SPEAKER_00Okay, thank you again for that question. That's a really, really good, serious and a good question. Because, like I said earlier, the education is different in every every system you go to. In Nigeria, the system is different, the focus is different. Nigerian focus is on the content, how do you master the content? Right, and then so you're looking at how you master the content, you need a lot of memorization. So, what does that help you to build discipline to take discipline to read those things? Content mastery, right? And exam resilience because writing exam takes another thing, right? So that's what the system of Nigeria helps you to do. But if you come to Canada, it's completely different because the focus is not on the content, they are going beyond the content, they are looking at critical thinking. If you look at the taxonomy of learning, how people the skills you use in learning, the first one is to remember, and yeah, so you remember what I mean. Exactly. So you remember that that's basic recalling, and then then you are able to understand, so you can tell other people about it, right? And then the most you can go is to analyze, to use it, so you learn something about first principle, and then you can use it to solve a problem in heat transfer, or I'm trying not to be too scientific. Let's say conservation of mass, which everybody knows, right? Mass cannot be destroyed, cannot be created. So I learned that. So I see a problem, I'm solving that problem based on conservation of mass because I know that mass cannot be created or destroyed, so whatever goes in comes out, right? Then that's it. However, you come to Canada, you're looking at beyond these three things, what else? You're supposed to evaluate the information you have, you're supposed to analyze that information, and most importantly, it's supposed to use that information to create something. So it's a completely different system, so it goes far deeper in your learning, in your understanding. They want to see that you actually understand this thing, and you are making using it to do something. So the emphasis on critical thinking, emphasis on collaboration, emphasis on independent learning, they want you to create knowledge yourself, right? Not just school, give you an information and you take it. No, you create that information. I give you an example. You're building a label, you give somebody a legal that is built, they look at it, okay, nice. That's it. What can they do with it? But when you give the person the legal and say, build this legal and they start putting this block, put that block, put that when they are done, they have gone through the whole process. That's how they want you to think in hand. Nobody's going to pass the information over to you. So that's why critical thinking, social skills, emotional skills, emotional intelligence. So they teach you how to think, so it's completely different. So when people come, they don't understand it. So, and what they do in the assessment form is also different. You do what they call continuous assessment. I know we say that in Nigeria, it's our continuous assessment, but we don't understand the full meaning or we don't apply the full meaning of continuous assessment. In Canada, the you are giving mark for everything, so your assessment is based on everything: project, class participation, what you do, discussion, dialogue, everything. Exam is just a small part of it. Nigeria exam is a major thing you do. So those differences is where people get like trapped, they are trying to catch up to it. Like, how do I do this? And remember, the system the semester is very short. Have a three-month window to do everything, and everything is important, everything counts. So, again, that's where I come in, that's where we come in. So suddenly, yes, that's where the company comes in. And say, Okay, see what you need to know because information is everything, right? How do you deal with this system? This is how this system works, this is the expectation for this system. If you don't know it, then you're going to struggle. And if you struggle at the beginning, it becomes really, really hard for you to catch up. So, in school, you don't play catch-up, very dangerous position to be.
SPEAKER_02Okay, um, I'll paint a real scenario for you so you can I need you to highlight more what Drofanby can do to help a student like me who I listen in class as much as I can, knowing that exams will come, and that if I if I'm able to memorize my materials and you know produce based on the questions I'm asked in the exam, I'll pass. Now, if I come to Canada with that attitude and I get into the university, I go to classes, I pay attention, however, and I just go through and wait for exams. I don't do anything else. I just go to classes, I come home, I study, I memorize as much as I can. And exams, I produce everything, I answer all the questions. Would I be considered successful or not?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I'm gonna answer it like this. One thing that is very important for you is for students to know is what we call the outline, the course outline. What is the expectation? Very critical. That's very that's your starting point. What does the prof want? How will I be examined? So because you you don't go from there, I don't think any prof goes from um topic one to topic ten, for example, and then give you an exam that runs from one to ten, they don't do that.
SPEAKER_02Really?
SPEAKER_00No, usually everything is broken down.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So topic one, you might have a quiz on topic one and it counts, everything counts from so I do topic one, I get a quiz and it counts towards the final quiz. Okay, usually in most cases, final grades are usually maybe like 30%. You don't even give it 40%. No, I don't think any prof will give you 40%, it's too much. So maybe sometimes 25%, but then there's a catch. Final grade is 25%. If you don't if you have 75% from everything, you're supposed to have passed, right? Right. If you don't pass the final exam, you fail the cost.
SPEAKER_02No, yeah, from from a Nigerian perspective, it doesn't make sense, doesn't make sense. In my head, if I make 75%, I'm good to go. I'm I've made my A, you know, low grade A, but it's an A.
SPEAKER_00No, it's not an A, not in Canada.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It depends on the student, but the A is usually from 80 at least, or 85. So you are not getting an A with 70. But that's not the issue. Let's say you have you you got the whole 75, or let's say you've got 80, and Prof says, okay, 20% is gonna be for the exam, right? That's the final exam gonna be what 20% of all the marks, and I already have 80%, and then I yes, and then I fail the exam, and the prof like no, you have to pass the exam itself to pass, so again, there's no it's not it's not solidly structured, so that's why you need to understand the course outline. That's your that's like your Bible for that course. What does the prof want? You go, if he says I will give three assessments or faster, everything is listed down, so you go through this is what I need to do, this is why I need to understand this or how much is participation mark. There is a project here, is there a group work here? Is there there are lots and lots of bits and pieces? That is why it is continuous assessment. Bits and pieces, they want to see that well, everybody learns differently, right? Some people that like hands-on, it won't be fair if all you give them is reading, right? Right, so right, so they want to capture everything when it's about diversity, it's not just like we have different people from different countries. That diversity goes even into the education system. Wow, every people learn differently, people understand, people want to uh express themselves differently, and sometimes if it's if the course is not of interest to you, the subject is not of interest to you, you may not even want to learn about it, right? So they want to put all this into consideration, give everyone a fair chance everybody so that you get ahead to get something, and the the system is designed for you to know, they're not trying to fail you, it's not it's not designed for you to feel, and when they were talking about knowing or thinking, when you are done, you know that you know this thing, you should be able to create something of value out of it. If you finish it, you can't create anything out of value, and maybe it hasn't really achieved its game or the aim or the purpose, yeah. So the outcome, you also look at the outcome.
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SPEAKER_02Is this why I haven't been able to create something with the microbiology degree? I'm joking. So anyway,
(Cont.) DROFANDY EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING
SPEAKER_02because in Nigeria, wow, I can listening to you, I can see the market difference. In Nigeria, you go to classes, doesn't matter if you pay attention or not. Doesn't even sometimes some professors will take attendance, they'll give quizzes, but the exam is you know the A and Z, the Alpha and Omega. Yeah, I pass my exam. If I make 60 points in my exam, I've passed. Perhaps if I did the quizzes or I my attendance was good, I could have made 70, but I passed. Now in Canada, you're saying that it's flipped. I can do very well in all the classwork and make 80 points. But if I fail that exam, then who? And in in all of these things, the outline will be clear because I don't think that I saw an outline. You will see probably uh what is it called? Um don't remember now what it's called, but they'll tell you all the subjects that will be taught in Nigeria, but it doesn't build there's nothing like you could do some practicals here and there, there could be some group work, but I can see the difference is that you're expected to create something with that cost outline, and that's a critical difference here. But thank you for bringing this into because I didn't know all of this. I mean, I kind of have, and for most people, we know generally the education system is different, but you're bringing out the you know intricate details that we need to pay attention to so that uh guys, if this is not something you sit and assume that you know, how can we reach profundity? Are you on Facebook or Instagram? Like if people listen to this and they want to reach out to you for consultancy, how can they do that?
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay. I've been putting out um well, how to do Facebook. I'm a huge Facebook person, but I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_02Because people have to have a way to reach out to you, yeah. So but I don't want to put your personal uh number. I have my business number. Okay, yeah, you can say that. Yeah, they can call you on that number and yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I have my I have a flyer that has a like a post the post I've been using. I have my contact, have a business number, it has all the information you need to reach me.
SPEAKER_02Okay, but I'm gonna do more. What is that? What is that phone number?
SPEAKER_00My phone number. Okay, nice.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because this is this is good information to have, and I know that once people hear this, I I can I can accept that in our community we're not very forthcoming with you know our kids struggling in school. Uh, we're gonna go into all of that. I don't want to preempt you, but you know, um if we're able to have uh an outlet like yours that can help, you know, push our kids to towards success, I think that people will want to know. So, yeah, what's the phone number? The phone number is 825 203 203 4850 4850. That's the number that you can reach Sandra on. You call, she answers, she's always very handy to answer her phone, and you can, you know, present your problems to her and you take it from there. So thank you for doing this. Um, another question I want to ask is I I know, yes, we've established that the systems are different. What are the other factors that could affect a student? I know there could be peer pressure, it could example is peer pressure, there could be all other things, but in your perspective, what are these factors? All things being equal, what are the factors that could push a student who is going from high school to the university or moving from one university to the other, or from one um BSE to MSc? What are the factors depending on their age groups that would influence these students and prevent them from going to where they're expected to get to?
SPEAKER_00Okay, thank you for that question. I think it's a very critical question. A good question. Um a couple of factors affect students. The first one is uh the freedom that they have.
SPEAKER_02Freedom.
SPEAKER_00Yes, but these are young people, they are not exposed to a lot of things. Yeah, I know they always think that they're grown up, right? I know scientifically your brain doesn't stop developing until you're 23. And sometimes, if you're talking about coming those coming from abroad, you see people as young as 16, 17. Someone that is as young as 16, or let's say 17, let's try for it, that has never been on their own all their life, they've been in boarding school, they've been guided, they've been told what to do. Do how to do it, when to do it, everything is structured, right? And then you leave this kid to come to Canada very young, and we get to this place, like every guard that puts you in that secures you gets removed. Right, right. That's the freedom you're talking about. No, you are by yourself. What am I supposed to do with all these things? Right? And again, people don't know there's a difference between high school and university in the sense that in high school, like we said, people tell you teachers tell you what to do. You don't come to class, you get reported, you get like before your parents, I haven't been to school, and blah blah blah. No, you don't do that in the university. You don't? Nope.
SPEAKER_02If you don't, if I don't go to classes in the university, nobody cares.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I use U of A or U of C as an example. You have like 500 students in first year.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00So who is supposed to be calling 500 parents? That's a job. Yeah, to say okay, this child did not show up in school. Remember how I said the system is very flexible, right? So you can decide to do any course you want here, any any subjects you want in high school, there are lots of subjects. No, Nigeria, how we have very fixed subjects. No, here you have a whole lot more that students can do. Sometimes they take useless ones, they don't even know if it sounds easy, they just do it. So, with all those things all over, it becomes really complex. So nobody's going to be controlled because they expect that for you to be in the university, you're an adult, right? So nobody's going to be calling or telling on you that you didn't show up to class. So if you register, tell the student during orientation, I'm telling them, you see, you register for this course, and then if after this orientation you don't show up again till the end of the term, nobody will call your parent.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00Like nobody cares. Not that you don't care, but it's I mean it's you, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So that's the major thing. So, how do you put that freedom in check? How do you help the person that hasn't tried this thing before? I know young people want to experiment. If I stay out of class, what happens? And the danger is that when you do something one or two times, it becomes a habit. Yeah, and when you form that habit, it becomes normal, it becomes natural. You don't show up for class today, and like okay, no, that's a big yeah, two times, three times, like okay, no big deal, and then you don't show up anymore. And the amount of material you have in the university, like I tell the students, is so much you can't afford to miss two classes, it doesn't make sense. But I mean it's good for your students.
SPEAKER_02You earlier pointed out that you don't want to be playing catch-up, yes, so that's how you start playing catch-up by missing classes, absolutely, and you can't do that.
SPEAKER_00I tell the student, let's say the most you can get is two lectures, and everything you've known in high school is finished, every other thing is new. And yeah, when I'm saying every other thing, it's not like two pages of lectures. I'm talking about it's a lecture that will have like 100 slides, one class, so you can't do catch up with that, you can't miss two classes, three classes in a few years.
SPEAKER_02So while you're catching up, there's newer material showing up.
SPEAKER_00If you can't do that, it's completely out of it. So, but sometimes they don't know, and they think it's like, okay, it's fine, I'll just catch up with that, I'll just miss this class, and then then it overwhelms them because the courses are content heavy. Remember, these are kids regardless, right? So when they get overwhelmed, sometimes they don't know what to do, and that's why again, refund the year. We're looking at a special angle that people don't think about how do you involve parents, how do you get parents into this thing so they're able to help this? These are kids. I tell them all the time, yeah, just kids, like they'll do things that kids do. How do you get them? So when a student is in the first year or at just highly school, at that point where they really need help, they're naive. So a parent can offer help, can be there, and you know, follow up, and you know, and then they allow you. If that stage passes, they just build kind of like a wall all around the cell, and that they're not in this big trouble, they don't know how to handle.
SPEAKER_02Wow, and they can't tell you, and then it just keeps getting worse and worse.
SPEAKER_00I've dealt with the student that had eight Fs, no kidding. Eight, yes, wow, eight. I've seen a student, the first day student to have three F's. Like, are you okay? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on with you? And then on and on and on, like that. These are not, don't say they're not smart, these are smart students.
SPEAKER_02It's just everything that is going on.
SPEAKER_00If someone has if someone applies to be an engineering student, right? Because they are smart, there's something behind them wanting to be engineers.
SPEAKER_02You don't just think about it. They were looked at and accepted.
SPEAKER_00And exactly. If someone, if the student has the confidence to say I can do engineering, and then the university accepts them, you know that they have the capacity.
SPEAKER_02They met the requirements, yeah.
SPEAKER_00They have the capacity to do that, and sometimes they're not, they don't meet up, they fail out, then there's a problem.
SPEAKER_02Wow, never seen it like that. Because in Nigeria, it's always that oh, they are failing because they are failing. No, we we see it that you're failing because you're not studying enough, but you're bringing out other things that Joe Fundy can point at and that parents can start to pay attention to.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Wow. So if you like I was saying about parents getting involved, if you're involved early, you're seeing your child struggling, right? So you're like, okay, so what do we do? When if you're not involved, is people don't people generally don't talk about failures. That's why you see all this adverse, everything is nice, and then they see Facebook, everything is nice, you don't see things that don't look nice, people don't put it out, but people go through a lot. Yeah, the students, the parents, too, parents need to step up at the beginning. Don't leave the student by themselves. Sometimes you can be there, then make sure that it's somebody, and they say, Okay, but all these services are available in the university. True, they are available in the university, but again, I told you nobody's gonna come look for you to give you present to get help, so you need to find the help, and sometimes they don't know where to find the help, and then you get personalized help, or give you personalized help, right? Following you, like okay, it's not a general do this, don't do that. I had a student I worked with the first semester, they had a 3.2, second semester, they had a 3.4. Their next semester they had a four point.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. And that's because Grofandi came in and provided the tailor maids support for the student. Taylor maids.
SPEAKER_00For example, I'm looking at the students like okay, other than the student don't understand how university is functioning. For each year, you have four year programs, so for each of those years, you need to have completed ten courses to take you to the next year. So if you're in the first year, one student, you need to take courses in your program. Done ten courses, then you give it second year. Okay, so the rational thing to do, you would think, should be okay, I will take five courses first semester, and I'll take five courses second semester. Alright, and then I'm done. However, again, because of the flexibility in the system, we have more than two semesters. And again, we have two semesters, first and second semester. Here we have more than two semesters. We have the fall, we have the the spring, we have the winter, we have the summer, or so we have four semesters, yeah, the four seasons. So you see a student, young young person, take five courses. You can't do that. You remember how I said courses are content heavy, right? You're gonna crash out of university. You just came out of high school again. No, you cannot. I'm looking at this student schedule, like, no, you can't take five. I already registered because yes, you register, but there's a lot of flexibility in the system. There's a time to drop the course if you can. Like when the semester starts, you have two weeks to take a course, you don't like it, it's not working, you drop it. And so from on and so forth, and even if you get to the last day of the class, you can still drop the class. There are conditions of touch, but those conditions are easier to handle than getting an F.
SPEAKER_03Right, right.
SPEAKER_00So I looked at the students and said, No, you can't do this. So we take out one course that you could do in the spring or in the summer. So if they are not properly guided, they can be overloaded with those things, and when you overload the student, they get into trouble.
SPEAKER_02Because in Nigeria, I I think you do nine subjects, so we come in here with that mindset that oh, I can I did nine subjects. Oh, I see. Okay, um, which group of people do you cater to the most? Is it the students or the parents? I ask this because um there are uh listening to you, it kind of gives me the impression that parenting style is a critical factor to success of a student in the university. Because if I am the kind of parent who does not create the environment where my child can come to me and say, I'm struggling, I need help. Is that something that you've seen in your line of work where parenting style is a factor to success or not?
SPEAKER_00Okay, I'm gonna answer it in two different ways. Again, life is complex, life is not like straightforward, black and white, you know, do this or don't do this. So sometimes if you look at immigrant parents, right? Someone comes here at whatever age, you have kids, like 30 or whatever, you're struggling to get yourself established in the system as a parent. As a parent, parent is struggling, and then as parents are struggling, we don't often think that children struggle. We don't think about that, we just think that oh yeah, parents are the kids are fine, they are kids. In the morning, I drop them off, let them figure it out because they think that this system will take care of the kids. It doesn't? No, it doesn't. You have to do your own part as a parent, as a parent, you have to help these kids. Okay, then if you're already in the system, well, what's the kind of that's my train of thought?
SPEAKER_02What's the factors that parents and kids, the interaction between parents and kids where a parent has to be involved and where parents aren't involved.
SPEAKER_00So some parents, yeah. So back to some there's someone will call uh first and family. Okay, so most students here, because this is just me now saying, because they have parents that haven't gone to a Canadian university, they don't know how the system works. But when you have someone that has gone through the system, they're able to direct you better. Like that's why you have the mentorship thing, someone is a mentor because they've gone through the process that can direct you. But most parents haven't gone to a Canadian university, so their children could technically be first in family. Now, first in family means that nobody in your family has gone to the university, so you don't know how the university works because it's it's different. The university creates a whole program for first and family as a programming first and family because again, information is we know that. Yeah, there are a lot of programming for students in school, there are lots of resources in school, but students don't know that. That's the other thing. They don't know how to do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh shed light on these things. Yes, nice.
SPEAKER_00I have a student that um had a B in a course, been a really good student, had a B in a course. The reason for that B was because the student didn't know how to do referencing, and the student went to the prof and said, like, I don't I don't know how to do referencing, I don't know how to get the materials. This is a first-year student, and prof say, Oh, get um um peer-reviewed materials and get to use this kind of referencing style. Prof talks to first year, second year, master's PE, so this are high-level talk. Student doesn't know what it is. What peer-reviewed material is, and they don't even know what referencing style is, so they go to Google or go to whatever chat GPT, and they just give you some things and then you get in trouble. However, that resource is available in school. If somebody has spoken to me, for example, to say okay, I have this issue, I don't know how to feel about it. I'll say, Okay, go to the library, we'll have librarians, they will help you with that, they'll show you that. So there are lots of resources available, but students don't know, and then that's where the first time family comes in. If this if students had a parent that have gone to a Canadian university, they probably know, okay, if you go to this place or you could do this, they could do that. You know what I mean? Yeah, so some parents also fall into that category, they've gone to the university, living in Nigeria or other places in Ghana, or you don't know how the Canadian system works. So, what you don't know, you don't know, right? So they're not able to guide the children, even when the resources are available, they don't even know that resources are available.
SPEAKER_02And like you said, with all these resources available, you have to be present. If you're not sitting at home playing video games, you wouldn't be able to take advantage of these resources. So um, Grofundy is uh a strategic business, because uh when I listened to you initially, my thoughts were that you know you only cater to people who aren't doing well in the university. But listening to you now and having all these details that you're putting out, I think that every parent should reach out to you because even if you think that your ward is doing well in school, it's important that you know for sure and also take advantage. They could be doing well, but there's better, they're not doing well, they can do better than so, whatever, wherever you are. I think it's important that you reach Mrs. Sandra and speak with her. You know, there's insights that she has, time won't allow us to go into all of them, but wow, even me, I am mind-blown because I'm gonna take lessons from this, and when I when my kids uh uh uh uh get into the university, I hope that you know, based on this experience, this interaction, I will do things differently than that. She made a great point. If you come from Nigeria to here, you're working hard to get a job, you forget, quote unquote, that your own kids are struggling. How do we mitigate that? How do we, you know, in the midst of our economic struggles as adults make sure that our kids aren't going through that same struggle?
SPEAKER_00Well, intentionality. Don't worry about that intentional. Yeah, don't think that again, people just assume the system is going to take care of your children. No, intentionality is very important, and that's how our service is coming, right? You're following up with the kids, and you talked about people that do they're doing well, right? I worked with students that are doing really, really well, but high achieving students, okay. But there is more to Canadian education than like you say academics, right? There's a whole bunch of things I expect about, so extracurricular is very important. So they look for every scholarship you apply. I don't think there's any scholarship they wouldn't ask you for what do you do beyond class? They want to see that you're doing something beyond class, and sometimes uh students they don't know what else to do, they're like, Okay, uh, I don't really have opportunity, opportunities abound within the school. Sometimes they don't know how to go about it, they don't know if this is important. A student will say, I don't really have much much to put in my my resume, I only work at McDonald's exercise. Because you're able to work at McDonald's and then you are able to achieve highly, which means you're good in time management. Oh, okay. You understand? Yeah, so there are lots of things. Sometimes I say, Okay, uh, I have a student tell me, like, I keep writing to profs, nobody don't respond. Okay, I say okay, let's do this thing. We've got the student, got talking, what do you want to do, and blah blah blah blah. We're able to write an email to prof, and they got four response, five responses. Oh, they wrote a couple of profs and they got respond. So and this is a service that broke and you can yes, wow, so you say okay, they got all these responses and they're able to choose. How do I get into research? Because there are so many things that you can do to make you stand out, not just your grades. How do I get into research? Yeah, in school, I don't know, I'm just taking courses, and then how do I build my portfolio? Because when I you don't wait till you graduate before you start building your portfolio. If you're playing planning to go to master's program, you don't wait until you can at the end of four years or in fourth year, like, what am I supposed to be doing? No, get into research. Well, how do I get into research? I don't even know. So, all those services are what we offer apart from this transition. The transition is the first one that helps you to understand the university system, how does universities work? Then we'll now go into academic success strategies. How do I optimize my being in school? How do I optimize my program? How do I become successful? There are a whole lot to that, and then the other one is how do I plan educational planning? What do I want to do? Do I want to go into research? Do I want to do a PhD? Do I want to do a master's afterwards? Or do I just want to go and get a job and I'm done? That's good. These days, nobody gives you a job if you don't have experience. So, how do I get experience? Right, how do I maximize my summer time to make sure I get experience so that when I'm out of school, I have something to put in my resume to work. If you put in your resume or the list of courses you have done, most likely you won't get into any program. Okay, some post. Okay, no, I want to go into professional program. How do I prepare for all that? So being in school is a whole process, and each of those steps you have to guide it, watch it, and make sure that the student is doing the right thing, especially at the beginning. If they're able to succeed in the first year, they have more confidence to approach the other years. So that first year is very critical. Even people that are coming from master sometimes they're confused, and some people have been out of school for a while. Like, what am I supposed to do? How do I do this? How am I supposed to do this? How do I even talk to a professor? How do I email a prof? How do I relate to a fellow student? So in this age of cell phone, students don't talk to each other, they just don't talk to each other, they're always on the phone. I I I a student had a problem. I talked with the students, they couldn't go for your uh internship, and then they couldn't graduate. And when you don't graduate, it's not just that you didn't graduate, it means that you have to pay money for extra semester and all that, and all that. So it's so what's the problem? There was a cost that was really difficult for them, they didn't know finding it difficult to cope with that cost, so just like I have to just drop this cost, and that was like towards the end of the semester, you have to drop the course because if you could kill the course, that's it's it's worse, yes. So if you drop the course, it means that you didn't complete your course requirement to go to the next step, and then at the end of the semester, student came back to me and said that in the class that they had a study group, and the student did not know there's a study group in the class again because they don't talk to each other, they're just constantly on the phone. So I I asked the students when you go to the class every day when you go for the class, where do you sit? Do you sit on the same spot? It's the most most times I sit on the same spot. So if someone is sitting there, so which means the person on your left and on your right, they all sit on the same spot, yeah, most likely, right? And then you don't talk to them. If you talk to this person, say hello today, say hello to tomorrow, you say hello like three times, you become friends. True, at least class friends, class friends, yeah. Yeah, and the Canadian system is very individualistic. Student comes from Nigeria, you're not used to that, like people talk to each other in Nigeria. Here, people don't talk to each other, students don't talk to each other. So, student is completely lost. Socially, you can't you can't you can't relate, I can't talk to why everyone always everyone on their phone and doing things. So, how do I do? I'm struggling, what do I do? We have plans. I've got to study okay, we're gonna get we're gonna go do this and do that. It helps with that building that social network that you need. So a whole lot of pathways that you do for students. So if in that first year, like I said, students are stable, they don't have to get four points in first year.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00If students get three points, three point five, three point five, those are games list, of course, three point two. They have potential to make as much as four points. But need to they need to stabilize, like a a foundation. Yeah, they need it, they get it right, and then they flow with the system. If they don't get it right, it becomes a struggle. Not only for them, for their family, it just becomes a big a big struggle.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um what without giving away any names or any specifics, what are the success stories that Joe Fandy has had in the sense that I met the student at one point GPA, and by the time I finished working with them, because people want to know these things, and then they can call you and say, Okay, this is where my student is. I want them to get to this point. What are the success stories that Dro Fandy has had?
SPEAKER_00There are thousands and thousands of stories. I work with a lot of students. Okay, nice. Um, sometimes people think you have to be in trouble. It's not just to be in trouble. Excuse me, but I told you about this student that started with a four 3.2 and 3.4, and then a four point. Okay, there's another student. This is a a start story, kind of, but it was a redemptive story eventually. Student had so many apps, they were on academic probation. And when you are on academic provision and they do the academic review, and you don't move past your if you don't move your GPA to at least two points, you're going to be asked to withdraw to reference school. And when you are an academic probation, you're only allowed to take three courses, right? So student was an academic provision, we met, and then we said, okay, we started to work together, let's see what's going on. And at the end of the semester, student had two B's and one C. That's the same student that's been failing and failing.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00So when the student's case was really bad, at some point I said, you know what? Let's talk to your parents. Because one thing is for the student to gain your confidence. If they know that this person absolutely has my interest, then they will be they they tend to be more they're open to open up to you in the struggle. So initially I couldn't talk to the parents, like no, I can't talk to my parents, we have to figure this out. And as the years are going up, I'm realizing that no, this can't work. This is just wasting you. We're just wasting time, resources, and everything. What do we do? Eventually, we talk to the parents, and parents are very open. Let's do a change of school so they can start afresh. We did that. Let's go. So still started afresh, completely new institution, everything new, not a university. Don't say they change another university, change another university, when to carry all the bad grades to the new university. So the students, so everything was fine. Then there was this story. This one like this one just blew my mind. This one just blew my mind. Well, students was in first year, I was completely confused because again, sometimes we like names, brand names. I want the student to be in U of T, U of McGill, and all those things, right? So it's very smart. I want them to go to U of T, go to McGill, all those things. Nobody walks in the doctor's office and take an IC your certificate.
SPEAKER_02Doctor is a doctor.
SPEAKER_00So the same thing. Student was in high ranking university. I was completely confused. Smart student. So we talked like what's what's what's going on? The class size was too much. Well, some schools are up to 500 students, no kidding. You enter the class of 500 students. So, what do you do? Like you enter the lecture hall, you like a lot of a sea of people. Yeah. So you get swallowed in the system. So say, okay, you are really, really smart. Maybe we should try after first year. We can do a university transfer. High ranking or low ranking doesn't make a difference.
SPEAKER_02It's a university.
SPEAKER_00Student graduated last week with a first class with distinction. Have the result of the video.
SPEAKER_02Interesting. Yeah, because I was instrumental.
SPEAKER_00So it's just a matter of changing the strategy. What will work best in this student, in this student's case, what would work best, you know what I mean? So every every student is not the same, every problem is not the same. You look at it like okay, this is not working. What do we do?
SPEAKER_02So drawfundy exists to make sure that this student looking at the uh both situation here and this environment in the terms of university, let's grow fundy marries right student, right environment, right programs, right resources, make sure that you know you take full advantage of the system that you're in, and and you wow, that's that's that's that's a great service to to have. Is there anything else that you would like to tell us that Grow Fundy does as we round up?
SPEAKER_00Well, the other thing, what I would like to say to parents that succeeding in a university is not only about intelligence. Okay, my son is very intelligent, oh my daughter is very intelligent, it's beyond being intelligent, it's just about being strategic, it's about knowing information that you have, what are the resources available, and then because when you don't know something, you don't know them. So intelligent when people come from a different system and they're not doing well, it's not because they didn't learn very well or they don't have there's a there's enough content in each system to overlap, they overlap good enough, but you have to understand what is required here. How does the system work? How will I be assessed? What is expected of me? What does the teacher want? What does the system want? So that knowledge is very, very important for the student. That's what makes them excellent.
SPEAKER_02I see, I see. Wow, thank you very much, Mrs. Sandra, for this. It's been very eye-opening for me. I have to admit, there's a lot of things that you've said that I didn't know. My assumption is that you go to the university, it's easy, and you know, you can't fail, and um, professors will care for you, they'll follow you about and make sure that you come to classes. Remember that I asked you if you looked at my face, the shock on it when you said that if you don't go to classes, nobody calls you. I didn't know that happened. I thought that you know, I didn't know there were there could be 500 people in a class. I didn't know that. So if I'm sitting here and I'm this wowed by the things that I've heard, I think that you should give Dro Fandy a call. What's that phone number again?
SPEAKER_01825.
SPEAKER_02The phone number is 825 203 203 48 48 50 50. That's the number that you can reach uh Sandra on. And please, please, parents, students, the resources there, she's there to listen. There's a lot of things she told me off the record. Uh, we don't want to put it on the record because you know they will you can listen to that and start to identify the people involved. But wow, she's doing a lot for the community, for parents, for students. She's here, she's available. Give her a call and take advantage of this. Of course, like she said, it's a business, they're gonna charge a little bit of money, but it won't cost you an arm or a leg. I mean, if you've gone to pay student loans, you can do things extra to make sure that those student loans are not, you know, paid in vain. That's what she's here for. So, thank you very much for the time to talk to me on the Agegebread podcast. I hope that we can do this again sometime. And um, thank you very much. And till we see again, this is Emeka Uncle Pizza, from me to you. Bye bye, I'm gonna go to the city.
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