LETTER: May God continue to bless the Ottos Comprehensive School as they begin to celebrate their 50th year of existance

Dear Editor,

As a proud parent of one of the past students of the Ottos Comprehensive School (OCS ), I chose to make it my duty to attend the launching of the school’s 50th anniversary celebration, in order to give my moral support to the al mater of my daughter, who now resides overseas.

I will admit that I was impressed with the high energy & the ambience that was on display. The rendition from the school’s steel band was extremely pleasing to my ears.

In addition, I was even more impressed with the number of past students that were in attendance.

Some I can recall were my daughter’s former classmates during the mid 70’s & others who were not in the same class but were schoolmates whom she related with but has not seen for quite a while.

I am sure that those former students who attended the function, grasp that opportunity to rub shoulders, mingle & reminisce of the past.

The speakers spoke with clarity & eloquence. They all did a great job in getting their messages across.

Mr. Claire Browne, a former student of OCS & now the nation’s Director of Education & Mr. Stephen Joseph, a former Biology teacher, clearly instructed to the present students who were a part of the audience, that …. ” In spite of whatever the circumstances, one can make something of themselves “.

Dr. Dean Martin, a former student & now the Director of the gynecology Dept at SLBMC used the opportunity to thank those teachers who played a major role is his early academic life.

For me, the presentation from Ms. Ilma James, the former principal of school, stood out.

I will admit that I was really touched & filled with emotions when I saw Ms. James who received assistance, struggled to the podium to give her speech.

Instantly, I had flash backs of those years when I had to interact with her as a parent. Back then she was strong, warm & amicable but certainly appeared to be that no nonsense headmistress.

Clearly, nature has taken the best of Ms. James’ physical state but with God’s grace & her strong will, she continues to make an impact.

Although she appeared to be a bit frail, perhaps of her age, it was lovely & heartwarming to see that she was assisted to the podium by her former staff teacher Mr. Stephen ‘Essay’ Joseph & her former student Mr. Linley Winter to make her presentation.

In contrast to her physical health, it is very evident that her mental health is still in tip top shape. She was very eloquent, very informative, very inspiring & very insightful during her delivery.

With clarity she took us, the audience, down memory lane and echoed the sentiments of Teacher Joseph & Director Claire Browne that the OCS students of the earlier years had limited resources to study with however, they still made use of whatever they had, to become successful individuals in life, in contrast to the students in the other secondary schools, who were fortunate to have resources to their disposal.

Before she concluded she indicated with humility that Mrs Megan Sampson, the first principal of the school, laid the foundation for her and hence, she was fortunate to receive the baton from her to enable a smooth transition. She also added that she was very fortunate to have a great team of teachers to work with her at that time.

Surprisingly, she did not commit herself to any name calling but beaming with joy she clearly uttered that she is extremely happy not only to reunite with her past students but was extremely proud & elated to know that many of these past students that were under her stewardship are now successful and are occupying prominent positions & roles in all faucets of our society and at the same time are making a meaningful contribution to nation building, locally and abroad.

Finally, her punch line ” Be the best you can be, in whatever you do ” resonated with me. I am hoping it resonated with those students who were in attendance.

As she retreated back to her seat, she received a standing ovation.

Kudos to the organizing committee who I think has done a great job. Mr. Roberts, the present principal of the school along with his cohort of teachers that he has under stewardship, all have their hands full with today’s generation of students.

They are just different than those of the yesteryears.

There is no doubt that the school has great potential & has proven that it can produce students to compete on the local, regional & international stage.

The school will continue to produce many more outstanding students.

Of course, I pray God’s continuous blessings over the school. OCS will always be a part of me!

Alex