A GROUP of Queen’s College alumni have organised an academic prize for senior students in memory of the school’s former principal, Rev Neville Stewart, who died last August at the age of 86.
The Rev Neville Stewart Memorial Prize for Critical Thinking offers cash awards of $1,000, $750 and $500 to the students who submit the best essays chosen from three set options. The deadline for submissions is September and the awards will be given out in October.
The essay competition was launched last week at a school assembly by two members of the alumni group, Earl Deveaux, a former head boy, and Anne Knowles-Lever, a former teacher. Both, along with other members of the group, attended Queen’s College during the mid- to late-1960s.
“We are here to ask your support to honour our principal, Rev Neville Stewart, who died last year,” Mr Deveaux told the assembled students. “He was a pivotal figure in our lives, and together we have put aside some funds to sponsor an essay competition in his memory for QC students in grades 10 to 12.”
Other members of the organising group include Felicity Johnson, a corporate lawyer; Anne Wilkinson-Higgs, a retired administrative manager; Sherry Albury, a former teacher; Pericles Maillis, a lawyer and environmentalist; Michael Alexiou, an architect; Larry Smith, a journalist; and Linda Johnson-Bosela, a retired schoolteacher.
A number of former classmates of the group, on learning of the memorial project, have pledged their support so that a gift in Rev Stewart’s honour can be presented to the school later this year.
‘Rev Nev’, as he was universally known, was a transformational principal of Queen’s College from 1964 to 1971. During a period of great change, Rev Stewart worked to complete the school’s integration and to expand educational opportunities for students from all walks of life. He had a revolutionary vision for QC, but he was ahead of his time and some neither understood nor appreciated his intentions. Today, however, QC reflects the reality of his vision.
In 1971 Rev Stewart returned to the United Kingdom and became headmaster of a school in North Wales until his retirement in 1992. He last visited the Bahamas in 2001. Born in 1927, Rev Stewart obtained an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Salford University and later a graduate degree in divinity from Trinity College, Cambridge.
“We are very honoured that you have taken the time to do this,” Rev Stewart’s eldest son, Duncan, said in a message. “It means a lot to us and I know Dad will be looking down on each entrant. He loved QC, The Bahamas and its people. It was a time of powerful influence and change in our lives and so many others. Thank you on behalf of the family for remembering dad and his contribution to that change.”
Soon after Rev Stewart’s death, a group of his former QC students met socially with his widow, Joyce, during her last visit to Nassau. They later conceived the idea of a memorial to Rev Nev for his contribution to inclusive education and critical thinking in the Bahamas.
“Rev Stewart never received the recognition he deserved for his achievements during a pivotal period in QC’s development which, in many ways, mirrored the social and political upheaval of that particular time in Bahamian history,” Mr Deveaux explained. “By organising this memorial prize we have tried to correct that historic deficiency in a small way.”
Students can choose from three set essay topics asking them to analyse current Bahamian issues by extrapolating from historical situations. The submissions will be judged by members of the alumni group.
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