25 honoured at SMS 50th Anniversary Recognition Dinner and Ball

Twenty-five persons were honoured for outstanding contributions when the St Martin’s Secondary School held its 50th Anniversary Recognition Dinner and Ball last Wednesday, October 26.{{more}}

The event kicked off a week of activities to commemorate the milestone.

Honourees were placed in several categories and included past students who have made outstanding contributions.

Categories included Education, in which the awardees included Ezekiel Butcher, Bradley Brooker, Charles Best, Philbert John and Monsignor Michael Stewart.

For Business, the awardees were John Crichton, Volmar DaSilva, Leroy Edwards, Lennox Gonsalves, Egerton Wood and Irvin Carr.

In Mass Media, Chester Connell and Maxian Harry were awarded.

For Athletics and sports, Pamenos Ballantyne and Woodrow Williams were the recipients.

In the area of professional services, Dr Jules Ferdinand, Dr. Vaughn Lewis, Thornley Myers, Brian George, O’Reilly Lewis and Ricardo Adams were awarded.

The Public Service award went to Herbert Young.

For entertainment and culture: Orandi ‘Bomani’ Charles, Rondy ‘Luta’ McIntosh and James ‘Jamesy P’ Morgan were the recipients.

Principal of the school Nereus Auguste said that the school has begun to lay the foundation for the future, but there are still some who may be disgruntled.

He asked for all former students to come on board, as the process to put the school back on solid footing had begun.

“Fifty years cannot come with some degree of failure. Some sons of St Martin’s have stumbled. Some have gone to negative elements,” Auguste said, adding that it was time to wake up.

Auguste thanked the LaSallean Christian Brothers for the 33 years of service to the school.

“Through the Brothers, the school has established core values – Honesty, Ambition, Respect and Pride. Those were instilled in each and every student,” he explained.

Minister of Education and Deputy Prime Minister Girlyn Miguel paid tribute to the institution, saying that there was a legacy to uphold.

“I am still crusading for St Martin’s Secondary School. I am still encouraging parents to send their sons to the school,” Miguel said.

But according to Dr Jules Ferdinand, feature speaker, there is something special about students who passed through the St Martin’s Secondary School. There was that desire to be proactive.

He acknowledged the effort put in by former teachers and saluted the Christian Brothers for the values they instilled into all students.

“Many of the teachers at St Martin’s Secondary went beyond the call of duty. They taught a lot more than what was in the books,” Dr Ferdinand said.

And according to him, it was values like this that impacted most on the characteristics of former students.

“Amidst all the chaos going on around the world, St Martin’s students understood that we can make a difference.”

He pondered what will be the significant contribution of SMS if one were to look in the future.

In his response, Dr Ferdinand borrowed a quote from Albert Einstein who said that one must not strive to be a person of success, but seek to be a person of value.

“So many persons look for material success, but we need to develop value, and that is what we got from St Martin’s Secondary School,” he said. (DD)