Adrian Gibson
First published in The Tribune on Saturday, September 12, 2009 under the byline, Young Man's View.
Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character.
— T. Alan Armstrong—an excerpt from last week’s edition of SC McPherson newsletter to teachers “From the principal’s desk.”
LAST Friday, I bid farewell to my comrades at the SC McPherson Junior High school as I departed the school and my beloved students to pursue my law studies. Today, with all of the issues facing the educational system, SC McPherson continues to stand out as a bright light on a hill of despair.
It is unambiguous to state that the pursuit of a tertiary education is not only a path to further enlightenment, but also to advanced qualifications and a greater sense of self and awareness about our societies.
Growing up as a youngster in the Bahamas (Long Island), I took a keen interest in the law, deciding at a tender age that practising law would ultimately be my career path, particularly as the intricacies of the law, its value to organized and democratic societies and the importance of the law and the administration of justice to settling disputes, confronting the criminal element and ensuring the integrity of business and society at large. Beyond these elements, the practice of law also has other benefits, such as producing prosperous citizens, who may venture into businesses and create jobs during these tough economic times and who may also positively contribute to the political, social and judicial strengthening of a developing nation such as the Bahamas.
That being said, I have hardly slept since Monday, as the study of law is an extremely arduous, sleepless undertaking that has a heavy workload and requires extensive research and reading.
I had a truly heralding experience in my years in education, particularly at SC McPherson where I spent most of my time and where, like all teachers at all other schools throughout the country, I was confronted with the everyday struggles that educators face, the task of courting certain students who regularly fail to complete homework to embrace their after school assignments, and the encumbrance of some parents who refuse to invest a minute in their children’s advancement.
In 2005, I began my journey in education by completing my teaching practice and certification at SC McPherson. Upon being hired as a public servant, I was posted to the LW Young Junior High school. Although I made lifelong friends at LW Young and had fulfilling experiences, I requested a transfer to SC McPherson, as I was relocating to western New Providence and had desired to continue under the tutelage of Mrs Antoinette Storr (then principal) with whom I had developed a good relationship. Mrs Storr, then the school’s very progressive principal had also requested my return, and was foremost in ensuring that I attained the cooperation and reassurance that I would need to pass teaching practice with flying colours. I did just that—earning an A! While completing my teaching practice exercise at SC, Mrs Storr and her administration and staff went above and beyond to ensure that I was not hampered and that I had all the supplies and necessary paraphernalia needed to excel.
Upon my return to SC as a member of staff, I realised that the hardworking teachers had cultivated a positive school climate, and that the institution was a pilot school for much of the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) initiatives. Furthermore, the principal and teaching staff had instituted a summer and after-school programme to attend to the remedial needs of slower students.
Although Mrs Storr has now retired from the public service and moved on to become a vice-principal at St John’s College and proprietor of a state-of-the-art pre-school in Pinewood (Shalom), what enticed me to SC was what I’ve come to appreciate as “Storr’s policy.” As a stern disciplinarian, she constantly patrolled the campus (with a cane) and consistently encouraged students to succeed. I also came to admire her hard-line approach to fostering parental involvement in instances such as those when parents did not collect their children’s report cards and were nudged to do so as she refused to permit students to attend classes unless the report cards were collected—and that approach quickly yielded results.
SC McPherson’s new principal, Mrs Dorothy Kemp, has also brought an innovative, technology savvy approach to conducting school affairs and keeping teachers informed of school activities, MOE promotional exercises and so on.
Although SC is today faced with having to accommodate throngs of students—some 1400, particularly in these rough economic times when many parents are withdrawing their children from private institutions—SC McPherson’s teachers continue to aspire to offer first-class education that has become synonymous with the institution. Frankly, everyone seems to want to send their child to SC these days!
It must also be noted that several of the brightest students produced by SC McPherson have been lured away from the public school system—upon completing grade nine—by scholarships offered by private schools such as St Andrews. Credit for much of the top grades at schools such as St Andrews in next year’s national exams must be given to SC McPherson’s hardworking faculty, who nurtured and laid the foundation for these students and also exposed them to effective teaching and reading methodologies.
Today, the administration and teachers at this outstanding school continue to dig in their shallow pockets and make personal sacrifices to ensure that their students have lunch and/or the basic resources to function in a classroom.
In the wake of my traffic accident and subsequent eye surgery earlier this year, many of SC McPherson’s teachers and students rendered unfaltering support, whether by diligently and caringly visiting me as I recuperated, writing wonderful get-well notes, sending gifts and fruit baskets and/or tirelessly substituting for me in my absence. I thank you all!
In most schools, the school population is divided into various groupings known as houses. When I left for law school, I was the year head/house coordinator for “Wahoo House”—for whom I will keep my fingers crossed in hopes that they win most of the school’s events this year. And, I will always be rooting for SC McPherson from the sidelines.
Moreover, most importantly, I would like to thank and bid farewell to the best, most outspoken and driven department at SC McPherson—the social studies department, of which I was a part. Special note must be made of the members of this very industrious department—wise and assiduous Ms Ceyola Coakley, diligent Ms Paula Clarke, well organised Ms Brickell Brown, tenacious and unswerving Ms Kayren Belle, determined Ms Valerie Henriquez and vivacious Ms Andrea Wilson-Pierre. Special thanks must also be extended to hardworking Ms Villiane Deal, who left the department during the summer to join the staff at LW Young.
As an educator, I hope that I have left a positive indelible mark and served as a facilitator in assisting my students with their interpretation of the processes of change in our society as well as other societies around the globe.
It is my belief that I have helped my wonderful students to define themselves as dutiful citizens who are capable of contributing to the development of their society over time.
Teaching has furnished me with an abundance of great memories and thought-provoking experiences, and I hope to continue to give back and teach our nation’s youth. SC McPherson’s school song proclaims “SC school we love you, we’ll always love you”, and no doubt, I will always love and treasure the time—the minor struggles and the many highpoints—I experienced in shark (mascot) territory.
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