Monday, November 27, 2006

Some thirty-two alumni, faculty and family members of Excelsior High School were awarded in six different categories (Life Time, Outstanding Teachers, Outstanding Students, Beacons of the Diaspora, Workers for Cultural & Community Development and Excelsior Family) in what turned out to be a magnificent celebration of 75 years of the existence of Excelsior High School which, as was noted, has since spawned the pre-primary and primary schools and a community college.

                                  Dr. Marcia Livingston  

The event took place at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, Thursday, November 23.   According to the keynote speaker, Dr. Marcia Livingston (Class of 1980), Associate Professor of the Oral Roberts University and an Excelsior alumna, when the history of Excelsior’s first 75 years is looked back on – perhaps 75 years from now –it will recount a heritage of excellence in academics, the arts, sports and in every other facet of Jamaican life.

“Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget once said that the principal goal of education in schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive, and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept everything they are offered:  Ladies and gentlemen I propose that this statement is the quintessence of the purpose of our founder the late Dr.  – I am conferring a doctorate on him because indeed he is a doctor - Aston Wesley Powell.”  

The professor recalled the fact that one of Powell’s inspirations for creating the school was his bitter experience of being turned away from Calabar High School because of his age and low socio-economic background. “His mission,” she declares, “was that this institution would prepare every student who enters its gate in the direction of becoming a whole man, a truly educated individual who is developed in every area of his person.”  

She pointed out that the creation of an educational facility which would nurture students from the pre-primary to tertiary levels was a vision which consumed the late founder, a vision which has already come to pass. But she did not dwell on the past.

She raised concerns about the situation now existent at Excelsior and many other schools where teachers are forced to wage battles in defence of themselves against students and parents alike. She mildly condemned post-modernism and relativism as some of the causes of the erosion of the country’s moral fiber and prescribed a 12 point plan which included parents returning to being parents and teachers returning to being teachers, as the way forward.  

Life Time Awardees were Cynthia Powell, widow of the founder Wesley Powell and an accomplished biology teacher in her own right;  Lloyd Davis, chartered valuation surveyor; Thomas Edward “TED” Dwyer (posthumously), the first and longest serving principal of EXED Community College; Alfred Rattray (posthumously), legal luminary and Louise Bennett-Coverly (posthumously), for her pioneering work in the recognition of Jamaican culture worldwide.  A special scholarship and award established for the 75th year and which will continue hereafter was also announced – The Louise Bennett-Coverly Award for Excellence in The Performing Arts.  It is to be given to an outstanding student (to be chosen) from the Department of the Performing Arts at Excelsior Community College.  

     Awardees former Principal Lindo Wong and Lorna-Dee Dunn

Outstanding Teachers Awards went to eight recipients all of whom have been associated with Excelsior for over 40 years.  They are Kiywing Fong-Kong, Mark Loague, Cynthia Marchand, Pearl Morgan, Sam Rendle, Carmen Sanguenetti, Etta Whiteman and Lindo Wong.   

Outstanding Students Awards went to Sandra Barker, Advocate-Justice for Children’s Rights; Lilieth Deacon, President of the Board of Directors of the school and attorney-at- law; Justice Paul Harrison, President of the Court Of Appeal; A.J. Nicholson, Attorney General of Jamaica and Maureen Samms-Vaughn, outstanding medical doctor.

Beacons of the Diaspora Awards went to Duane Coombs, Public Relations Officer (10years) of the New York chapter of the Excelsior Alumni Association, who has committed his life to fund raising for the school; Anthony Hudson, the main mover for fundraising activities for the school in the USA and Donna Myrie, for her consistent support of the outreach and guidance counseling programmes at Excelsior.

Workers for Cultural and Community Development Awards went to Erna Brodber, researcher, writer, historian and cultural anthropologist; Lorna Dee Dunn for spearheading the revival of the school’s mentorship programme; Beverley Thompson for her work with the elderly at the Golden Age Home through the Kiwanis Club;  Granville “Junior”  Virgo for lifetime of work with the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force and especially for is work with the Cadet Corps of Excelsior and Lebert & Winsome Halliman husband and wife past students, who have jointly and seperately contributed to the development of the sports program at their alma mater.

Family Awards went to Edith Edwards, under whose inspired leadership the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) has grown in numbers in its partnership within the family of staff, management and students of the institution and Mr.  & Mrs. Noel Downer and their 8 alumni children. Together the family has put up bursaries and scholarships to facilitate current students who attend the school.

© Michael Williams

Michael Williams is a journalist, photographer, communication consultant and graduate of both Excelsior High and Excelsior Community College.