Happy New Year and best wishes for a prosperous 2008 to the Kingston College family and friends. At this time of the year, it is customary to look ahead, make plans and set goals for the New Year. Obviously, our plans will primarily focus on our own personal situation and that of our families. However, I am challenging every KC Old Boy to include our beloved alma mater in their plans for 2008 and make a tangible contribution to the school.
The most recent CSEC and CAPE results, which were widely reported by the local media, demonstrated that Kingston College is one of the top performing boys’ school on the island. I am sure we were all justifiably proud and encouraged by these developments. The performances of the students were more remarkable considering that the basic infrastructure at the school, such as the science labs, is in a less than desirable state. It is important that the school’s academic performance is not only sustained but improved. The goal should be to become the top performing high school, as opposed to the top boys’ school. In order to accomplish this objective, the infrastructure deficiencies need to be addressed.
Fortunately, there are a number of projects underway that upon completion will help to rectify some of the problems previously mentioned. The major effort is the completion of the Social Service building at Melbourne. The partially finished structure has been an eye sore for some time, not to mention the escalating cost of the numerous delays. Spearheaded by Florida, with commitments from Atlanta, New York, Toronto and individual KC old boys in Jamaica it is expected that this building will be completed in 2008 to the benefit of the students and staff of the Melbourne campus. KCOBA (Toronto) has earmarked funds to help alleviate the shortage of equipment for the science labs. Additionally, a quantity of equipment sourced from a Canadian government laboratory has been identified and will be vetted with the school administration to ensure that they are appropriate for use at the school. I am sure that all KCOBA Chapters have plans for 2008 geared towards helping the school. Although the task ahead seems daunting, if we accomplish one or two projects each year it would result in tangible improvements at the school and positively impact the circumstances of the students and staff. As our beloved folklorist, the late Louise Bennett would say “one, one coco, full basket”.
I also encourage all Old Boys to consider personal contributions to the Trust Fund as well as endeavour to support your respective Chapters. On the Toronto front, our next major fund raising effort will be our annual Spring Dance, scheduled for Saturday, April 5, 2008. Music will be provided by KC Old Boy Winston Blake of Merritone and Turn Table fame. If there was ever a compelling reason to visit Toronto this would be an excellent opportunity and an appropriate time.
