Tuesday, April 28, 2009

By Gaynor Downer

                                      Gaynor  Downer

After leaving XLCR in the late seventies, I have thought of myself as a true Excelsorian blood and all. I feel that my association with the school since then has been even more outstanding than my years spent there.

I have had the privilege of visiting other schools over the years, and I have been to XLCR on numerous occasions. My visit in February this year however, was outstanding. I felt extremely proud to be an Excelsorian and there was a heightened sense of nostalgia.

The courtesies extended to me by both staff members and students were amazing. The ambiance and cleanliness of the school suggested to me that there was a positive force pervading in the school.

I was a guest at the worship session and witnessed stark discipline among the students and respect between students and staff. Let me relate an incident that left me overwhelmed. I was standing at the entrance to the hall watching as the students filed in.

Over seventy percent of them actually addressed me and said “good morning Miss,” something that I have not witnessed among students in a long time. While I was there beaming with pride in my spirit I did not know that the best was yet to come.

A teacher who was standing near to me saw a young man hurrying past the hall because he was late. He had his under shirt showing and she looked across at him and with the calmest of tone said “Sir, your under shirt is showing and you know that is against the school rules, so please do something about it.” The student replied “yes Miss,” and walked on.

I had to congratulate her on her perfect handling of the situation. What utter respect. I had not in a long time witnessed such a heart warming incident, knowing full well how students are treated nowadays, and the whole issue of authority being misused, to foster animosity and rebellion among students.

To crown what I think was a perfect morning I was a guest at the worship and as my passion is to see the music programme enjoy the pre-eminence as in my era I was utterly thrilled to have heard the XLCR drummers and the a cappella male group singers appropriately named ‘The School Boys.’

This is a group of five boys who warmed my heart and sang so sweetly with their impeccably rich harmony that at that point ‘mi glad bag bus’ and the only thing I could think was ‘IT IS A GOOD DAY TO BE AN EXCELSORIAN.’ Both groups did extremely well, and but for the fact that the students were already standing, would have received a standing ovation.

The discipline displayed by the students during worship and the stimulating and motivational address by Allison left me feeling ‘IT IS A GOOD DAY TO BE AN EXCELSORIAN.’ When Allison asked me to offer the closing prayer I was happy to be a part of the exercise and I hope I did justice to the already perfect morning.

The ambiance and atmosphere have left a lasting impression on me and must be part of the recipe for optimum learning. I am anxiously anticipating a better performance in the CXC exams this year.

 Kudos to the administration and keep up the good work!