The Tribune

By JESSICA ANDRE

EVERY year, Saint Augustine’s University honours former graduates at its National Alumni Association conference. This year, for the first time, the conference will be held in The Bahamas, the first time outside the United States.

Founded in 1867 by prominent Episcopal clergy, Saint Augustine’s University was created in Raleigh, North Carolina, to educate freed slaves. Over the years, it has become one of the country’s most respected private, accredited, historically black, co-educational institutions of higher learning.

For the past 75 years, the university has been aiding its students through the Office of Alumni Affairs and during the 1970s and 1980s, Bahamians flocked to Saint Augustine’s, previously Saint Augustine’s College.

“The connection between Saint Augustine’s University began with the late Tom Davert Grant,” Ron Pinder, vice president of The Bahamas Chapter for Saint Augustine’s University, said yesterday. “He was the first Bahamian to attend and later became a recruiter. He paved the way for other Bahamians like our prime honouree, Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt.”

Mr Pinder was joined yesterday at the Urban Renewal offices on Collins Avenue by fellow high-achieving alumni to announce the historic conference will be held in The Bahamas next month. Over 100 former graduates will be honoured, including 15 Bahamians. They range from Bernardette Thompson-Murray, the first woman Deputy Superintendent of Her Majesty’s Prison, to the chairperson of School of Education at The College of The Bahamas to the Minister of Labour and National Insurance.

Ordained minister and former MP for Saint Cecilia, “Mother” Pratt will be the prime person to be honoured. From 1980 to 1983 she was honour student at Saint Augustine’s and served as the softball team head coach. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Education with a minor in Sociology and was named Coach of the Year by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

In 1993 “Mother” Pratt received an Honorary Doctorate degree of Humane Letters from her alma mater and later became the president of the Bahamas Chapter of the St Augustine’s Alumni Association. Since 1980 she has been an official recruiter for colleges abroad and had the opportunity to provide hundreds of scholarships to deserving Bahamians.

One of the many goals of the Bahamas Chapter and other Alumni Chapters of the NAA is to provide students with the opportunity to obtain a higher level of education.

“We plan to give back to St Augustine’s University in a meaning way by obtaining funds to provide scholarships for students to attend the university,” Mr Pinder explained.

According to the president of the Bahamas Chapter, Bernadette Davis-Smith, there will be a number of fund raisers for students that cannot afford to get a higher education. These smaller fund raising events will lead to the grand event, the conference in July at the Wyndham Nassau Resort Hotel. On July 26 the NAA will host its main fund raising event, a Gala Ball.

“Throughout the conference, we will be raising money for the scholarship fund,” Mrs Smith said. Mr Pinder added: “The purpose of these events is not to undermine the national efforts to boost the College of The Bahamas, but to coincide with the College.”