BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FIFTY years ago in 1961, the George Moody Stuart School (GMSS) (aka the “Factory” School) was born with a motto “I AM...I Can...I Ought...I Will, and fifty years later on Sunday July 1, 2012 the present students lived up to their motto as they displayed their various abilities in a Talent Show which marked the end of their 50th Anniversary celebrations.
The signature or most significant piece of the show was the ‘Song of the Children’ sung by Grades 2-6 with a refrain – “We hold the future in our hands”.
The present is now what was the ‘future’ for the earlier students and many GMSS students do hold the present ‘future’ in their hands.
They can be found holding pivotal positions in all fields of endeavour – in medicine, there is Dr. Lawrence-Holness; in education, there is Ms Unoma Allen, a lecturer at CFB College; in tourism, there is Mr. Alistair Yearwood, Advisor to the Nevis Island Administration on Tourism; in law, there is Lawyer Attiba Byron, and GMSS has also produced accomplished accountants like Michele Nisbett-Marshall and state scholars like Jan Liburd.
But especially important, GMSS has produced mothers and fathers who now mould their children by the standards taught to them at school and their children in turn will do the same and prove over and over that they do “hold the future in their hands”.
On Sunday, at their Anniversary Concert, the present students displayed their fledgling talents through song, dance, poetry, piano, recorder and bell ringing selections and showed they knew what they ‘ought’ to do, they ‘willed’ it and achieved it in the best way they could.
The items by the students were buttressed by contributions from past students. There was beautiful singing by Kayla Bass, an intriguing poem by Shenelle Crooke and accomplished piano selections by Christian Nathaniel.
In addition, friends of the School like Quatro Vocci added richness to the programme. Sterling contributions were also made by Inoete Inanga on the trumpet, David Hanley on the trombone and Adrian Scantlebury on the saxophone.
Rena Warner and her group – Hands of Praise- brought talent with a difference as they expressed themselves through fluorescent-gloved hands in a darkened room. They perked the interest of the children.
Young Giselle Crooke hosted the show, introducing each item and at the end Headmistress Mrs. Elizabeth Condell warmly thanked the participants and all those who had in any way contributed to their 50th anniversary celebrations.
From October of last year to the present, the George Moody Stuart School has been celebrating 50 years of the School’s existence under the theme, “Pursuing Excellence through Quality Education”. It is a theme that will hold well for the country over the next fifty to one hundred years and beyond.
