The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

ST JOHN’S College yesterday celebrated its 70th anniversary of existence, an occasion various school alumni said highlights the “pivotal role” the Anglican institution played in grooming persons in local positions of authority and enhancing national development.

At St John’s College’s annual Founder’s Day Celebration held in the school’s auditorium, a number of notable alumni, such as Bishop Neil Ellis, and former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Senator Cheryl Bazard, all praised the school for not just the role it played in their lives, but also that of a number of noteworthy people in society.

“I really enjoyed my stay at St John’s, it really served as a foundation and a rock for everything else that was to come in my life,” Bishop Ellis said. “This year my class is celebrating 40 years. So for me to be celebrating 40 years graduating from here and the school celebrating 70 years of existence, that’s really a duel celebration for me and a milestone for both me and the school.”

Mrs Bazard, meanwhile, credited St John’s College for the role it played in developing many of the nation’s leaders, such as Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins, Central and South Eleuthera MP Damian Gomez, and Minister of Financial Services Hope Strachan.

“When you look around, you look in the room, and you look at these people where they are in society today and you will find a St John’s graduate at the top in most corporations, in most government agencies, our ministers, a lot of our ministers in government are St John’s College graduates, like Ken Dorsett, he’s one of them. And so you see St John’s College in every walk of life now in the Bahamas, and it makes you glad that you’re a product of this school.”

Sidney Wallace, St John’s College’s first head boy (1947) also said: “On looking back I see a whole lot of graduates from St John’s College who have made a mark in this community.

“A few of them have died but most of them are still around and making very concrete contributions to the whole Bahamas.”

Reverend Laish Boyd, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, called yesterday’s celebration a “tremendous” milestone in recognising the primary and high school’s rich history.

“This indicates to us just the distance we have come, and we’re grateful that these persons along with a number of other persons who were there in 1947 could be present,” he said. “The Anglican Church prides what it does with respect to education, and we always say that the school is church, and the church is the school.”

Bishop Boyd also called for school alumni to “give back financially” to St John’s College “so that some other child can enjoy and benefit from that which the alumni would have experienced.”

“As the bishop, next week I’m going to be in touch with every alumnus for whom we have a contact, and every member of our school staff of all our schools. But I’m going to be asking our alumni in particular to look back and to give back. Look back at the school that nurtured you, and give back with your interest.”

He added: “All of us sit in the shade of a tree that we did not plant, and all of us plant a tree whose shade we will never enjoy. That’s how we pass on from generation to generation that which we have received.”