National Baking Company gives $500,000 as New Forest High continues fundraising drive

Chairman of New Forest High School in Manchester, Trisha Williams Singh’s overarching vision for the school is to bring it in line with the top high schools around Jamaica. And part of her plan is for a multi-purpose auditorium. To raise funds to kick-start the Eva May Wright Auditorium, she hosted a fund-raising Spring Soirée for Education at her Graham Heights residence on Wednesday April 3.

Speaking with The Gleaner, New Forest Principal Arnaldo Allen said he was thrilled with the response and having surpassed their target of $1 million for the night.

National Baking Company Foundation donated $500,000 to the fund and, in addition to ticket sales, some $261,000 was donated at the event.

Having served the school since 2009, Allen became the first principal of the newly minted high school in 2015. He said there was an urgent need for the auditorium at the plant.

“The auditorium is needed for general assemblies, devotional exercises, an external exam hall, floor sports, community activities, a hurricane shelter, as well as an income generating space for church conventions, conferences, funerals, weddings and political meetings,” Allen said. The groundbreaking will take place on May 23.

The affable principal told The Gleaner that sports is a unifying force and his administration also plans to use the auditorium as a place where boys from the community, who are now idle, will be able to gather to engage in worthwhile pursuits. Being located in one of Manchester’s prime farming belts, New Forest High also has an agriculture department and, along with producing greenhouse vegetables, students learn poultry rearing and the small ruminant stock was recently boosted with a $2-million grant from the Jamaica Dairy Development Board (JDDB), to construct a new facility for the goats.

Allen also noted that preliminary discussions about the auditorium are now taking place with an architect and they are hoping that many more donors will come onboard. With some 900 students across the infant, primary and high schools, New Forest High also needs a proper playfield which is projected to cost some $8 million. But, just nine years since gaining high-school status, Allen is pleased with the academic progress of his students.

“We began with 36 students and we are now at over 300 and we now have a grade 12 and 13; they come to us with grades below 50 per cent but leave with passes in three to 10 subjects. The island’s top and region’s fifth-place student in social studies, was from New Forest High. They also offer Pathway Two in the skills areas of welding, electrical installation, cosmetology and building technology,” Allen said.

Meanwhile, the president of the parent-teacher association, Jacqueline Nelson, said parent involvement is important in the life of the school. The group helps with communication, decision-making and volunteering time and resources to the school. They help to organise Teachers’ Day activities and the annual Transitional Day exercise (graduation).

“I am very happy about the Eva May Wright Auditorium and we even raffled a ticket so that another parent could attend. Our participation helps maintain harmony at the school and gives me a chance to know most students by name. I am like another mother for them in the community where we guide them instead of tearing them down,” Nelson said.

Williams Singh, who is always bullish about the school, said her students deserve the same infrastructure as those attending the island’s top high schools. Given those resources, she said the students at New Forest High will perform at the same high standards as graduates of those high-profile schools.

“All my students want is the same opportunity, so I am heartened by the support of everyone from overseas and Jamaica. I know that New Forest is going to achieve its goals for the auditorium which is expected to cost more than $100 million.

Other sponsors who gave of their time, cash and kind were The Playa Group, Moneymusk, EdgeChem, Jamaica Broilers, CB Chicken, Wisynco, Beautiful Blooms, Sands Great Bay Hotel and DJ Courtney. Farmers from the Duff House community sent a bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables for all guests attending the soiree.

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