The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia. net

PRIME Minister Philip "Brave" Davis returned to his school days with a visit to St John's College, as the school received a donation of $160,000 on Friday from its class of 1968.

Father Jamas Palacious thanked his classmates and others for their generosity as he encouraged others to give.

“This cheque represents a combination of gifts of various individuals along with members of this class. I'm extremely grateful to my classmates, and others who have contributed and urge other alumni from other institutions as well.”

He added: “What we are hoping to do, and the Prime Minister will elaborate a little more, with this money is for solar and scholarship. So we're going to solarise the school in large measure that would save the school by an estimate about $30,000 a year and so some of this money would go there and some of it, of course, would go for scholarships. There are many children who would like to be in these and other hallowed halls, but they just are not able to make it.”

As for how soon solarisation begins, school principal Junann Lewis indicated as soon as the school board chair has the money he will begin the process.

“First thing is we need to figure out how we want to start, where we want to start. We have a very big campus, so we have to actually strategise before we spend the money. So we will do that first and then we will definitely jump on that right away,” she said.

She also highlighted the needs for students, particularly one who lost two family members, when asked how many students will benefit from scholarships through the donation.

“I cannot give an accurate estimate because, of course, we don't know what the solarisation will cost, but definitely we have about four or five students now who we know will need some assistance.”

“We had a student who lost his grandmother and mother at the same time. So we would like to do something to assist him. He's in his final year of school, two more terms, so we want to assist him in some way to make sure he has a smooth transition out of high school,” she said.

Present for the presentation was Class of 68 member Mr Davis who took a trip down memory lane remembering the sacrifices he made for his education. It is in this spirit he capitalised on helping others and described his classmate’s altruism.

“During my tenure at St John’s, and the many of us here, including Palacious, it wasn't easy, because I had to work to help pay my school fees and I have others who are helping and I think it's only fair that we look back as to how we came through and to do what others did to make sure that we come through successfully,” he said.

“It's a no brainer for me, and colleagues I'm so fortunate to have been in this class of 1968 because all of us understood what it meant to be able to share. We understood that we were not on our own able to make it and others had to reach out and help us. That was all embedded in us and hence most of our lives, I think, many of us of this class have been reaching out and helping as best we can.”

The Prime Minister has sounded the alarm on climate change and advocated for ways to protect the planet. He explained the hope school’s solarisation could have on students understanding this issue.

“The Bahamas is championing this issue of alternative energy, which falls in the category of mitigating against the consequences of climate change to our lower carbon footprints. It is also in asking the school to solarise as best they can a part of their electricity consumption,” he said.

“It's also the sensitise our students on their role and responsibility to ensure that we lower our carbon footprint and to understand what it means for alternative energy to lessen our dependency on fossil fuel... asking the school board to consider installing solar panels is also a part of a wider process to educate our people, our children, and to be sensitive to those needs. Of course, as I said, the other aspect of it is to be able to assist those in need. St John's College is a wonderful institution for training and also for spiritual grounding and we want to be able to help students.”

“From where I sit as leader of the nation, I recognise that the costs of delivery of education is extremely expensive. Government alone cannot educate all of its people. It requires all hands on deck and so for delivery of good, effective education to our people and our children all hands are needed on deck and I call upon all of us to play our part to ensure that resources are available to schools and institutions that are charged with the responsibility of educating our people.”

The school has been blessed with the donations of other resources. In fact, the principal said donations went up during the pandemic.

“During the pandemic, we were graced with a lot of the classes, especially the 1970s and 80s. They donated to us because of course, you know, we had to go virtual. We had to do a lot of live streaming. So we had classes who donated cameras, who donated resources that we needed in order for our school to run. So during the pandemic our donations actually went up and I see that they are now encouraging others to donate. So just by doing this and other classes seeing it, I think that we will receive more donations as time goes on.”