Choiseul Secondary Celebrates 18th Graduation Ceremony

Choiseul Secondary School held its 18th Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday June 30, 2009 at the School Grounds at 3:00 pm. The Ceremony was well attended by Ministry officials, dignitaries, as well as the parents, well wishers and fans of the students of the “Graduating Class of 2009.”
Master and Mistress of Ceremony, Mr. Celsus Henry and Ms. Jenny Alcide, were superb in their handling of the day’s programme as they took alternating turns within seconds of each other, in their deliveries. Great Stuff!
The atmosphere was incensed with endless brands of perfumes, but the focus was the anticipation of what to come.
Mr. Augier, the Principal, in his message to the fifty-five (55) girls and forty-six (46) boys of Class 2009 quoted Longfellow, “ Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art offending.” He went on, “You have come to the end of five years of secondary schooling and now your dreams should be geared towards higher education."
“ Discipline and Perseverance: absolutely necessary for the realization of one’s full potential.” is the theme for this year's graduation. Mr. Augier adds “reflects clearly the vision that must characterize your future endeavours.” He reiterated, “Keep your discipline and keep persevering as failure results from no discipline and no perseverance.”

Parents were kept abreast of the achievements of the school in the principal’s report. He gave parents a detailed account of the school’s progress for this school year. He had special praise for his under -19 cricket team who qualified for finals. Info just coming in as this article is being written is that the finals will be played against Piaye Secondary School.

Junior Minister of Education, Mr. Gaspard Charlemagne, in his remarks, as he coined it, has much had much praise for Mr. Augier’s report. He continued, “This is what parents want to hear when they come to a graduation. How the school is doing. I will recommend this format to the principals when I meet them.” He paid homage to all the past principals of the school and thought that special praise should be showered on the Guyanese teachers for their valiant effort in bringing the school to where it is today. He made the Government's intention of imposing a curfew on school kids for wearing school uniforms up to a certain tim of the day, as he thinks that this will help improve the discipline among students.
Guest speaker, Wilber Joseph MD, gave a rather moving speech which more less spoke to his humble beginnings, dedication and perseverance and most of all discipline. His entire speech will be posted on this blog as of Monday July 6, 2009.
Twenty-two students got special awards prizes for their excellence in certain subjects, six students got sports awards, eleven got other special awards.
Cindy La Force, Hannah Felix and Kiserah Phillip were awarded Best Academic Performance, Student of The Year, and Top 2008 CXC Examination student respectively.
I could not conclude this piece if I did not menion that in the latter part of the ceremony, sadness gripped the audience as Devorne Leonce’s parents were presented with token by the principal in remembrance of the student who drowned last February.
Hats off to the Graduation Committee of the school. Well done. View video at the end.

Lookout for the students' pics tomorrow.

Michael Jackson The Pop Icon Dies. 1958 - 2009

Michael Jackson “King of Pop” has died, after suffering a cardiac arrest.
The circumstances surrounding his death up to last night is not clear. It is reported that the star was not breathing when paramedics responded to a call at his home in Los Angeles where he collapsed.
The paramedics performed CPR on Jackson and took him to UCLA Medical Centre.
His biggest selling album produced in 1982 “Thriller included songs like Billie Jean and Thriller which remains the best selling album of all times and sld over 26 million copies.
Jackson had a lot of ups and downs in his life, like a case where he was acquitted of molesting a 13 year old boy.
The rock star was preparing for a comeback at a concert in London when tragedy struck. It is thought that the pressure of this preparation may have pushed him over the edge.
It is worth noting here that many top players in the entertainment industry seem to depart this life quite young. Remember Jimmy Hendrix, Bruce Lee, and Bob Marley just to name a few. Not forgetting our own Janine, the calypso monarch from Laborie
Michael Jackson’s departure from this life has left a void in the entertainment industry. The world has lost another Icon.
Farewell my brother

La Maze Residents Form Management Committee

One could sense the tension in the air as residents of the community of La Maze came together at the Resource Centre to elect a Management Committee.
Why the tension? At the meeting one could clearly see that the members of the Mothers and Fathers Group were on one side and the youth on the other of the centre. Rivalry has mounted over the years while the Mothers and Fathers Group managed the centre and according to a few young persons, theyhave been denied access to the centre for sometime now.
December last year, at a meeting, the old management committee was dissolved when it was found that there has never been an election for over eight years. According to Mr. Bousquet who was present at that meeting, together with the CDO declared that the management committee is unconstitutional.
Last night’s meeting, attended by Mr. Lucien Theodore, from the Ministry of Social Transformation, Youth and Sports, Mr. Mc. Arthur Phillip, Community Development Officer, and a representative for the District Representative, Mr. Dedan Jn. Baptiste aimed to have the residents elect a management committee.
After a brief history of the Centre by Mr. Lucien the task of electing that committee got underway.
The composition- three (3) persons from the M & F Group, two (2) persons from the Youth Group, one (1) person from Club 60 and one (1) person from the Farmers Group. The process went along smoothly until it was time for the nomination of members of the M & F Group. Nominations were not forthcoming. After quite a delay, Mr. Lucien proposed that the group be given a week’s time to nominate their members to the management committee. Barring this other persons will be nominated to the committee.
Person that were already elected to the Committee are Mr. Simon Monrose – President, Ms. Nelta Francis – Vice President, Mr. Hyacinth Joseph – Farmer Representative, and Ms. Sanita Monrose – Youth Representative.
Next week’s meeting will hopefully conclude this list.
Keep your fingers crossed.

Morne Sion Senior Citizen Gets Wheelchair

Charles St. Martin of Morne Sion, got a well deserved Father’s Day gift, compliments the Taiwanese Government and The District Representative. Mr. St. Martin, 87, is suffering from Alzheimer’s and as a result this has made him completely immobile
A wheelchair was presented to him on Sunday June 21, 2009. Making the presentation in the presence of the immediate family was the District Rep. who stressed the importance of taking care of the elderly. He promises to look into matters affecting the elderly in his constituency. The recipient of the gift though he remained quite mute (effects of the illness) he nodded his head in acknowledgement and gratitude for recieving the chair.

His grand daughter Kace St. Martin on behalf of the family, thanked the Taiwanese Government and Mr. Bousquet for responding to the needs of her grand dad. She said that the wheelchair will be of great assistance in moving their grand dad within the house and even to take him to the veranda to view the land scape which he knew so well.
Bousquet doing the humanitarian thing.

Bousquet Addresses Fisheries Co-Op's 36th AGM.

Sunday June 21st 2009 will be remembered as a memorable day in the history of the Choiseul Fishermen's Co-Operative Society, as for the first time in their 36th year history they saw a District Representative addressing them.

With approximately sixty (60 ) members in attendance plus Ministry's officials as well as the Board of Directors and staff, the meeting got underway at about 10:00 am.

The President Mr. Anslatus Joinsville welcomed the audience and expressed that he looks forward for a cordial meeting.

Mr. Bousquet, in his address, thanked the Board of Directors for inviting him to this 36th AGM. He more or less spoke to certain problems which may have been put forward by the membership at an earlier date.

1. He mentioned the problem posed by the accumulation of sand in the pond on a regular basis and promised in his power to have the matter addressed.

2. The poor lighting of the area especially on early mornings when fishermen make preparations to go fishing

Mr. Bousquet stressed that he is there to represent everyone and not a selected few. he called on all fishermen regarless of political affiiation to approach him with any issue facing them.

In closing he quoted from the credit Union prayer "Where there is hatred, let me sow love,Where there is injury, Pardon, where there is despair,Hope."

The Rep. then gave the membership a chance to dialoguet with him on matters affecting them. Mr. Christopher James the vice president of the co-operative asked whether the lighting of the complex can be place under the Rural Electrification Program as, according to him, their bill for any month exceeds $6000.00 thus cutting deep into the profits of the institution. He went on to indicate that some arrangement must be made to help curtail their $2000.00 water bill every month. He noted that The Village Council collects Sevice Bills and they in some form or other should help with this bill. In closing he brought to the Rep's attention the environment where he now sits and ask that this area be converted into a conference room.

In responding to these questions Mr. Bousquet promised to look into these matters with the relevant ministry.

Other questions revolved around Fishing Aggregate Device (FAD ),Tuna Long Line Fishing,and the accumulation of sand in the pond. The latter which seems to be of greatest concern to the fishermen ,as at least two of them have had the engines damaged, heard the Ag. Chief Fisheries Officer Mr. Rufus George taking a strong stand to have this metter resolved immediately by having the sand removed on a regular basis.

In his short address Mr. George praised the co- operative for the efficency of their management skills and pledge them to continue in this vein.

With all addresses made the Co-operative continued with its normal business of the meeting.