“STEP together, fight as one, seek no rest ‘til you have done for St Mary’s all you can, prove your worth, and be a man”.
Those are some of the words of the St Mary’s College (SMC) school song, and the institution’s Class of 1990 is living up to those words with an ongoing project, supported by Harris Paints.
The centenary class graduated with precisely 100 students in the summer of 1990. In recent months, groups of men from that class have been spending weekends at their Alma Mater at Vigie, sprucing up the place by painting the railings of the main building. All of the paint was donated by Harris Paints.
To date, the “Old Boys” have completed half of the task, finishing the lower railings in the principal structure, which incorporates the principal’s office, a laboratory, and classrooms. Next up, the group – which usually numbers about half a dozen Samarians – is set to pressure wash and paint the railings on the top floor, where the staff room is located.
Cuthbert Nathoniel is one of the men behind the project. He explains that the alumni group hit upon the plan to lift the school’s environment after some dialogue with principal, Rowan Seon. He also thanked Harris Paints for their generous donation, which was of great help in getting the project going.
A number of members of the Class of 1990 have also contributed to a fund to help some students with bus fares and lunch. There have also been various individual interventions initiated by some of the members of that graduating cohort. Gillray Cadet set up a scholarship fund in 2015, and Glen Stephen has assisted the school’s basketball teams over the years, among others.
Several of the members of the St Mary’s College Class of 1990 now have children at the island’s oldest educational institution for boys. But whether parents of current Samarians or otherwise, the “Old Boys” from the school’s 100th graudating class have fully committed to supporting SMC.