The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

IT was a sombre first day back to school yesterday for the students and teachers at Jack Hayward High School in Grand Bahama as they mourned two students killed in a weekend accident.

A special assembly was held in the school’s gymnasium, and a team of grief counsellors was on campus providing assistance to grieving students.     

Minister of Agriculture Michael Pintard, the MP for Marco City, religious leaders and representatives from the Department of Social Services were present offering support and comfort to faculty and students.    

Two bows were placed at the school’s entrance gate in memory of deputy head boy and prefect, Jamall Cooper, 15, and school prefect, Perez Hepburn, 16. 

Three other students from the school with a fourth student from another high school are still in the hospital recovering from injuries sustained Sunday when the car they were in crashed into a utility pole that landed on a fence around 4am.

Cooper and Hepburn survived the crash, but were electrocuted and died at the scene after coming into contact with the fence with downed live wires.     

Principal Bronwen Smith said that Jack Hayward High had lost two promising young students.   

“We lost two young men who we really had a lot of high hopes for,” she told The Tribune. She noted that both students were seniors and were at the school last Thursday for an orientation that was held for school prefects.

According to Ms Smith, there were plans for Cooper to attend a hospitality college on a scholarship in the US. 

“He was in the hospitality programme, and his teacher was getting him straight and organised, and making plans for him to get a scholarship in the States at an institution that specialises in culinary arts,” she added.

She noted that Cooper was a quiet student and many persons did not expect he would run as a candidate for head boy.  

“I remember when he was giving his speech while auditioning for head boy, persons were very surprised because he is usually quiet, but he had a lot to share,” she recalled.

Mr Pintard was deeply saddened by the passing of the two young men and offered his condolences to the families. On Sunday, he visited with the young men who are in hospital.   

“It was most sobering that my visit to Jack Hayward High was to stand in solidarity with the Wildcat family as they grieve so great a loss on the eve of the reopening of the school year,” he said. 

“These talented young Bahamians were popular among students and held positions of leadership,” he added.

The MP reminded students to not take life for granted. “Life is fragile and we must make wise decisions to protect it,” he said.  

After learning of the tragedy on Sunday, Ms Smith contacted the district superintendent at the Ministry of Education about getting a crisis team at the school on Monday. 

“We certainly need some grief management and counselling,” she said, adding that some students are still in denial. 

“This week is going to be a little trying (for us), but we have to be very supportive of each other and provide that love and support for each other.

“When I came out of the gymnasium, I met a 12th grade student standing by herself, and when I saw her face, I gave her a hug, and she said, ‘I can’t believe it.’”

Following the assembly, a separate grief counselling session was held for all 12th graders.

“They wanted to talk with seniors to find out exactly what they were going through, and what stages of grief they were going through and giving them advice about how to deal with it,” Ms Smith said.

One student called for fellow students to continue their final year by doing their best in remembrance of their two fallen classmates. 

“I hope it would motivate all the young men in the school, particularly the class, to be more focused and realise that life is short and we don’t know when it will end. We have to live each day and be the best we can be,” Ms Smith said.