Maritime Institute mourns loss of brilliant students
Published:Tuesday | December 7, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Yesterday should have been the start of the end-of-semester exams at the Caribbean Maritime Institute, but it was instead a period of mourning as the school community struggled to come to grips with the deaths of two students.
Klaston Wright, 19, and 20-year-old Ryan Smith died from injuries they sustained in a motor-vehicle accident on Sunday.
Strips of black cloth affixed to clothes or tied around the arm, and tearful eyes, were the order of the day for most students and lecturers at the institution as they discussed the incident, which left two other persons with ties to the institution hospitalised.
Smith and Wright were heading to Harbour View in a green Honda motor car driven by Jac-wain Kyle, another student of the institution, when the vehicle collided with a white Noah Townace, which was heading towards the Norman Manley International Airport.
They were taken to hospital, where Smith and Wright died while undergoing treatment. Kyle and an unnamed instructor at the institution were admitted.
Yesterday, director of academics at the institute, Ibrahim Ajagunna, expressed sadness at the incident.
He told The Gleaner that the entire school population was "shaken up" and the administration was providing counselling.
"Everybody is traumatised, and so we have to be getting counselling and prayers to deal with the situation. The chaplain for the school came in yesterday and he had a counselling session on the accident scene, where a number of students were crying, then he went to the hospital to offer comfort to the family members," Ajagunna disclosed.
Source of motivation
He said the two second-year engineering students who lost their lives had potential and were bound to be successful in their careers.
"They were outstanding students and many of their classmates looked up to them for assistance and motivation. Ryan, especially, was a very bright student and, at the time of the accident, he was on his way from the school as he went there to have tutorial with the students in preparation for the end-of-semester exams."
Sighing at every interval, Ryan's mother, Rose Smith, recounted memories of her only child.
"He was a fun-loving person who hardly had a dull moment, even when he was upset," Smith said.
"On Saturday night, he said to me I am the world's best mom and he loves me, and I will always remember that."
The institute has rescheduled the end-of-semester exams to begin today.