Principal: Put your dreams to reality

Students of the Troumaca Ontario Secondary School (TOSS) have been told to put their dreams into reality.

The direction came from Principal Calvin Herbert last Wednesday at the school’s graduation ceremony.

The principal warned students about life’s impending dangers. He cited frustration, hardships and deceit among the things likely to confront them.{{more}}

“How you handle those challenges would prove whether you are qualified or educated,” Herbert pointed out. He encouraged the graduates to transfer qualification from education into problem-solving.

He urged the students to observe the implications of the Caribbean Single Market. He advised them that mere CXC certificates would not be enough.

“You have to go beyond that. You need to qualify yourself,” Herbert stated. He encouraged the graduands to “set attainable goals, and work relentlessly towards attaining those goals.”

He reminded the audience of the struggles of persons like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Marcus Garvey, and Bob Marley.

The Troumaca Ontario Secondary School was opened in 1973. Herbert highlighted some of the institution’s accomplishments and boasted of 100 per cent passes in Agricultural Science, Home Management and Office Administration. He noted improvements in the performances of Mathematics and English, but lamented the fact that students were not taking Information and Communication Technology seriously.

He noted that there were great benefits to be gained from a basic knowledge of that field.

The TOSS is used to students with reading and numeracy problems and outlined that special programmes had to be crafted to cater for that occurrence.

The Principal cited expectations of high performances from “stakeholders,” and he noted the lack of resources.

Herbert underlined lack of parental support, as well as lack of community support as factors affecting the school. He chided the community for encouraging students into “deviant behaviour.”