Nearly 25 years ago, the world made a promise to children: that we would do everything in our power to protect and promote their rights to survive and thrive, to learn and grow, to make their voices heard and to reach their full potential. In spite of the overall gains, there are many children who have fallen even further behind. Old challenges have combined with new problems to deprive many children of their rights and the benefits of development.
Universal Children’s Day, observed on Friday November 13th was filled with surprises courtesy of Mr Martin, Ms Mark, the student council and the Upper Six student body. Usually, the Christmas Bazaar marks the end of excitement and the beginning of study-mode for Christmas Term exams, so it was a great treat to have one last stress reliever.
The day began as any other, with the students lining up in their respective houses to enter the Marian hall for morning assembly. Upon entrance of the hall however, the students quickly became aware of the special assembly taking place. Members of the Two Cents Movement on The Courts Bocas Speak Out Secondary School Tour visited Holy Name Convent and created an energy-filled atmosphere with their lively personalities and their thought-invoking spoken word poetry. Between the exciting games that provoked our competitiveness and the smooth delivery of relatable topics, both the student body and faculty found themselves entertained and hanging off their edge of their seats- or in our cases, the floor- for more.
Holy Name Girls also had a chance to showcase their talent as both Lexi Browne and Demeka Herbert took the stage to share with the crowd their well-executed spoken word poetry on educational topics such as the environment and race. The surprises however, didn’t stop there. During lunch time, buckets of ice-cream was shared and to end this flawlessly executed day, the Upper Six student body invited the school to the back court at exactly 2:30 pm, where they awaited the students’ arrival to give one last final surprise. The students found the leading student body standing on the balcony of the form six block, where they wished a happy universal children’s day and were greeted with a shower of colourful balloons.
This special event was the first of its kind to ever be celebrated by the current members of our school, and was proven to be the best kept secret, seeing as no-one outside of the committee expected anything of the sorts. It added a much needed dose of fun, faith and appreciation for our school and proved to be a great stress-reliever for the up-coming exams.
On behalf of the ever grateful student body of Holy Name Convent, I would like to thank The Two Cents Movement and their sponsor, Courts, for adding a much needed flair to our school day. Also, a very special vote of thanks to the co-ordinators of this event, Mr Martin and Ms Mark, as well as our Head Girl, Jasmyn Sargeant , all participating upper sixers, and the members of the student council for their outstanding hard-work in organising this day without a hitch, so soon after our annual Christmas bazaar.