Some 125 students at the Adrian T Hazell Primary Schools have been further motivated and encouraged to continue to excel in education and sports, having received awards for outstanding performance so far.
The event, at which the students’ performance was highly appreciated, was the Third Annual Teacher Dorothy Hughes Award Ceremony which was held at the Bethel Methodist Church on Wednesday, November 26. The late Mrs Hughes, who served as Principal of the school for several years, was the wife of Mr Freddie Hughes of South Hill and mother of Dr Franklin Hughes and Dr Lowell Hughes. Together, with other family members, they were intimately involved in the holding of the event.
Mrs Tracelyn Hamilton, the newly-appointed Principal of the school, and Mrs Susan Smith, Education Officer, Pre Primary/Primary, were grateful for the large attendance at the event. They expressed appreciation to the teachers and parents for working together towards the educational wellbeing of the students; and gave special recognition to the Hughes’ family for their involvement in, and support of, the annual awards event.
The students were the recipients of certificates for the CXC Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment examination, Improvement in Reading, Sports and Outstanding Citizenship.
Miss Kara Hughes, daughter of Dr and Mrs Lowell Hughes, delivered a Motivational Speech in which she commended the awardees and advised them to follow positive paths in their spiritual and physical development as they continued their education journey.
She told them in part: “I want you to understand that what you are learning in primary school is very important. It lays the foundation for all future academic learning. This is the time that you learn the basics in Math and English especially. If you ensure that your foundation is well laid, by using good learning habits, when the time comes later to build on it, in writing letters or essays, or in doing difficult sums for example, you will find that you can manage the task by using the foundation you already had, and you will be able to produce a top quality product. But if you do not learn the basics properly now, like spelling and grammar, your foundation will be shaky and the finished product will not be good.”
She commended the students for doing well and urged them to spend time on their school work so that they would ultimately succeed. “I would finally like to leave you with some words of wisdom, from God, to help guide your life in general,” she added. “Remember always, in all you do, to ‘trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path’ (Proverbs 3:5, 6). And remember thy Creator in all the days of thy youth (Ecclesiastics 12:1).’”
A special song, lustily sung by the Boys’ Choir of the school, climaxed the awards ceremony.