THE KINGSTON COLLEGE OLD BOYS’ ASSOCIATION (USA), INC. RE-ELECTED ROBERT KELLY AS PRESIDENT during its 27th annual general meeting, which was held on August 17th 2009 in Bronx, New York.
Mr. Kelly, a 1973 graduate, has served his alma mater since 1986 in several capacities. Since assuming the presidency in 2006, Mr. Kelly has targeted the needs of financially challenged students and concentrated on mobilizing his fellow old boys and other supporters to contribute money and equipment to Kingston College.
Welcome to the Annual General Meeting of KCOBA USA Inc. for 2009. As we pause to reflect on what has been a challenging year for our association – a year of economic hardship for some of us and a lack of stability at the helm of Kingston College – we also look forward to the future with new hope and the resolve to continue the work of the association serving our great alma mater and exemplifying its creed.
While we are here to report on the events of the past year, we will also use this forum to elect a new board, with the expectation that the new board will be mindful of the College’s founding principle; capable of addressing 21st century challenges; implementing the programs necessary to achieve our goals; and confident enough to submerge egos so as to form significant partnerships with our brothers in North America and Jamaica.
Itwas the 8th of January 1962 that we entered that fabled institution Kingston College, Clovelly Park Campus.
The first order of the day was Chapel, there we were welcomed to school by Mr Douglas “DOUGS” Forrest - Headmaster. Next by the man we, as the youngest members of the school would grow to fear, Jonathan A. W. Crick – Deputy Headmaster with direct responsibility for the lower school (1st , 2nd and 3rd Forms).
This very tall Barbadian with the largest nose any of us had ever seen immediately drove the fear of God in us lads as he gave his version of the do’s and don’ts, among which was “Do not line the corridors.”
It’s hard to believe that the Big Purple Session, organized by the Florida Chapter of the Kingston College Old Boys Association, has been around for over ten years.
From its humble beginnings in 1998, the event has mushroomed into a colossal fund-raising tool for KC.
The brainchild of a committed and visionary group including, among others, Audley Hewitt, Dr. Wayne Fraser, Horace Minott, Michael Malcolm, Leighton Dawes, and Audley Patterson, the event has now outgrown its original venue, the Walter C. Young High School in Pembroke Pines.
Extensive repair work was underway at KC in the weeks leading up to the opening of the school. Although there is still more to be done, the summer projects once executed should go a long way in providing a more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing environment for the students and staff.
Over at the North street campus, the PTA underwrote landscaping to the tune of $200,000 by way of walkway blocks, repair of two broken and construction of three new concrete benches, erection of vertical posts with chain enclosure as well as grassing and hedging. Most of the works were carried out at the front entrance of the campus and installed adjacent to the Douglas Forrest building, the ancillary staff changing room and the area enclosing the flag poles.
According to The PTA interim president Hector Daley, plans are afoot to extend the landscaping to the lawns of St Augustine Chapel and erecting a sculpture theme park in the median adjacent to the toilet area. This latter project he hoped will be carried out with the assistance of students from the Visual Arts department.
Morlon Greenwood established his Foundation in 2003
Two US based foundations are funding a much needed basketball Court refurbishment project at KC’s North Street Campus. The two sets of basketball courts which by all accounts were in deplorable condition will be getting new playing surfaces. New hoops will also be installed on one of the courts.
Funding for the project is being provided by the RuJohn Foundation in association with the Morlon Greenwood Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by NFL player Morlon Greenwood.
L-R - Locksley Wright, Douglas MacDonald, Brenda Montesano, purchasing manager, Carpenters' Union, Eddie Patterson and Alex Francis.
T
he Toronto chapter of Kingston College Old Boys has received a generous donation of more than CAD$20,000 in tools from the carpenters’ union.
The gift from the union’s Central Ontario Regional Council includes a range of power and hand tools. They are destined for Kingston College in Jamaica and will equip the school’s industrial arts department.
Ucal Powell, the union’s financial secretary, plans to go to Jamaica later in the year to formally hand over the tools.
“This gift will be of tremendous benefit to the students of Kingston College,” says Lance Seymour, president of the Toronto chapter, who also noted that it will help the school fulfill its five-year plan to upgrade the facilities.
The Carpenters’ Union will be recognized for its donation at Kingston College’s upcoming annual reunion banquet, on Saturday, November 7th in Toronto.
Silburn Clarke is the CEO of Spatial Innovision, Inc. which recently won a Pioneer in Prosperity award. The company is a leader in geospatial solutions with offerings in imagery (aerial and satellite), geographic information systems, global positioning systems, systems integration, training, systems analysis. It does business all over the Caribbean from Bahamas in the North West to Guyana in the South East.
Silburn grew up in the Allman Town area of Kingston, Jamaica. His mother was a housewife and entrepreneur (shop owner) and his step-father was a fire officer. He was the eldest of 11 children in the Scarlett family, six of whom--all the boys--attended KC. The family is mentioned in Anthony Johnson's History of Kingston College, 1925 -2006.
The Florida chapters of the Kingston College Old Boys Association and the Calabar Old Boys Association jointly hosted the Florida leg of the inaugural David Hunt Memorial Classic on Saturday, August 22nd at the Miramar Regional Park.
The event is the counterpart to the successful first leg staged in Jamaica on August 8th at the UWI Mona Bowl.
Ronnie Chin (R) presents plaque to STGCOB Clive Chambers
As reported by Jamaica Observer staff reporter, Howard Walker
K
ingston College (KC) walked away with two of the three trophies available at the 45th staging of the Roper Cup football fiesta at the Stadium East Field yesterday.
In the extravaganza between KC and their North Street neighbours and arch-rivals St George's College (STGC), the former captured the George Thompson and Roper Cups on aggregate, while STGC won the Pancho Rankine Cup for over 35s, 1-0.
In the feature encounter of the day, the present-day schoolboys battled to a 2-2 draw, thus enabling KC to win the Roper Cup 5-3 on aggregate.
ark "Tony" Reid was laid to rest this past week. He was a KC Old Boy who would travel over 250 miles to KCOBA meetings in Atlanta from his home in Nashville, Tennessee.
When we received the sad news that Mark was near death at the relatively young age of 42, Atlanta old boys Whylie Chambers, Everett McNish and Barry Miller drove up to Nashville to visit him in hospice.
The end came a few days later. Everett McNish and Glen Laman drove up on Tuesday to attend the evening services held at Mark's church. Two other KCOBs also attended. Rohan McLeish flew in from Canada and Lyndon Fuller from Tampa, Florida.
aurice Courtney Lewis was born August 5, 1948 and attended Kingston College from 1960 to 1967.
He was taught the game of basketball by another stellar KC Old boy, Freddie Green in third form and such was the beginning of service to Kingston College.
Young Maurice soon developed his skills as a point guard and a deadly jump shot and aptly nicknamed “Shats.” For those of us familiar with basketball it is common knowledge that the point guard is the extension of the coach on the court and invariably the team’s leader and most intelligent player. This is so true for Shats who played on KC’s championship teams from 1965-67 and was our inspirational captain and coach in 1966 and 1967.
It is noteworthy that during this time KC did not lose a single game with the likes of Hugh ‘Zulu’ Ingram, Kenneth ‘Bus’ Thomas, Winston Harvey and Warren Chen Shui and additionally KC had two players on the Jamaica National team in 1967 and naturally Maurice was the point guard, the other player was Warren Chen Shui.
hen I wrote in the July publication under the heading “Son of KCOB amongst top 2009 KC GSAT Scholars,” little did I know I would have to revisit same.
I had at that time featured 11 year old Justin Henry of Stella Maris. The son of KCOB Victor Henry was highlighted as one of the top performers because he had placed second of the over 300 boys placed at KC for having successfully sat the Ministry of Education 2009 GSAT examinations.
Our readers will recall I made reference to the first place lad as one Kadeem Campbell who, on the basis of his 94.48% average, had just edged out Justin Henry’s 94.12%. At the time I had no knowledge of Campbell’s bloodline, and following efforts without success to make contact with his parents, relegated him to a footnote.
regory Danni won a laptop at the recent graduation ceremonies at Kingston College. He was selected as having raised the largest amount of money for the graduation ball. The ball however had to be canceled at the last minute.
The laptop was donated by the New York chapter of the KC Old Boys' Association.
September 11, 2009 KCOB Percival Ferguson visited the Melbourne campus and presented a photo smart printer to guidance counsellor Sonia Watson on behalf of the KCOB New York Chapter. Mrs Watson expressed her profound thank you.
Percy is a former member of the board and represented the school in swimming and track.
The donation was in response to an urgent need (no printers on campus) at the Melbourne campus.
oyal greetings of love, honor, and respect to the Fortis Family. Give thanks to Brother Robert for linking I MAN with brave stawarlts like yourselves who continue to raise the commitment bar in community development work (even just for the Purple and White).
Our work in Ethiopia is in no way dissimilar to that which is represented by the KC Family. The social and spiritual legacy (bonding into and believing in a purpose greater than oneself); the organizational model of networking and building common goals; and the sharp focus on community development that enhances beneficairies and not benefactors; are all part of the deliberate work of the Ras Tafari Faithful in Ethiopia.
True, the challenges are many, and includes frustrations of varied kinds and emotions. Yet, those of us who have accepted the call to the service of African Development continue to work incrementally toward the ultimate goal of a sustainable and independent Ethiopia/Africa.
