Montego Bay welcomes second all-boys high school

WESTERN BUREAU:

The educational landscape in Montego Bay now has one more high school, the Monsignor Gladstone Wilson College for Boys, which opened its doors to the first cohort of students on Monday, bringing the Roman Catholic Church outreach into the wider community.

The school started its activities for the year 2022 to 2023 with an orientation for its four pioneering grade-seven students and two sixth-form students, who will be under the tutelage of principal Dave Soares and a cadre of experienced teachers.

The new school, which is located on the compound of the Roman Catholic Blessed Cathedral, is sandwiched by the all-girls Mt Alvernia High School and Cornwall College, which was previously the lone all-boys school in the western city.

The school will be sharing laboratory spaces with Mt Alvernia on an interim basis, and virtual education will form an integral part of teaching and learning, which will cover courses of study in science, technology, ethics, and mathematics.

The school, which was conceptualised in 2020, started out at the sixth-form level with a mandate to fill a vacuum for students who had scored well in their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examination but had limited post-grade-11 options.

Deacon Baldwin Powell, a director of the board of management for the new school, said he is excited now that the church’s dream and vision of having another all-boys school in St James is now a reality after almost three years.

“To me, and I hope to you as well, this is a very historical occasion; you are part of history,” Powell told the pionering students and their parents on Monday. “We will take a photograph of you as the first set of students at this school, and we are going to track your journey. We are going to be prayerfully watching your progress, because this is a moment of history.”

Powell encouraged the students and their parents not to pull the plug on the personalised and universal education being offered at the school, noting that the institution is building on the rich tradition of excellence offered at Catholic-operated schools.

“We are following a tradition of excellence. Parents, don’t give up, don’t quit. And young men, don’t quit either. You are going to be given personalised education, use this opportunity very well,” said Powell.

He added that he is praying that the transformation needed to rescue Jamaica from perils will be found among the students, whom he said he hopes to see graduate successfully in the not-too-distant future.

“You, young men, we hope that you will help to make the transformation that is needed for our society. Our society is in peril, great danger, and we need men to rise up and be counted. This is not a normal school; it’s actually going to be an exceptional school with the level of training that you will receive here.”