The final of six primary school graduation ceremonies took place at the Mount Fortune Seventh-day Adventist Church on the morning of Thursday, 30th June, 2022. It was the graduation of the Class of 2022 of the Morris Vanterpool Primary School, in East End – the home of the Red Dragons. The event was held under the theme: “Overcoming Challenges by Never Saying Never”.
Chairperson for the occasion was the current Miss Anguilla, the reigning Carnival Queen, Ms. Latonya Mussington. Prayer was offered by Pastor Howard Simon, and Teacher Casey Richardson played the National Song, followed by the school song which was sung by the graduands.
Words of welcome to the audience, and encouragement to the graduating class, were given by Teacher Krystal Webster: “On behalf of the Principal and Staff of the Morris Vanterpool Primary School,” she said, “it is my honour and privilege to welcome all of you to this graduation ceremony of the Class of 2022.
“Graduands, as you enter this new level of your education, always remember that when you get a dream, you got to grab it and never let it go. Seek help when those dreams seem impossible, and prove to the world that you would never say never.”
A special selection in song, Julie Durden’s “This World is Yours”, was rendered especially for the graduating class by a community resident, Ms. Sherlin Fleming. The Keynote address was then delivered by the honourable Jose Vanterpool. He spoke highly of the Morris Vanterpool Primary School, his alma mater, and encouraged those graduating by using himself as an example of what is possible.
“Class of 2022,” he began, “let me start by saying that I am a proud graduate and a proud product of the Morris Vanterpool Primary School. Some fifteen years ago, back in 2007, I was sitting in your place. I was happy to be graduating. I was curious and excited. I was even a little scared about going to Campus B, not knowing what would come next.”
“Fifteen years ago is not a long time,” he reflected. “And the five years that you will spend in high school is certainly not a long time. One day, not long from now, you will wake up and wonder where all the time went.
“As I reflect on my journey between where I was on my graduation day and where I am today in life, and as I see you ending one phase of your journey in education, to begin a new phase, I would like to share some advice that would have been useful for me when I was in your shoes. It is advice that would be useful to you through all your years to come.”
He told them that, in alignment with their graduating theme, they had already faced many challenges that brought them to the high point of graduation. “You have endured many disruptions in the process of your education,” he said. He advised them that in life such challenges are inevitable, but that they have the power within them to overcome every challenge. He also advised them to always go through school with goals set before them. “It is always important to set goals for yourself, for goals will give you a mission and goals will give you direction,” he said.
He further told them that the secret to using the power to overcome their challenges was to never give up, never say fail, and never say never.
Following Mr. Vanterpool’s address, the Principal, Ms. Shauna Connor, was joined by other members of staff to issue a host of certificates and awards to the grauands. As is customary, several awards were sponsored by contributing entities and benevolent individuals of the East End community.
The awards included: the Oris Smith Awards for the Valedictorian and Salutatorian; the Colville Petty Awards for the Valedictorian, for Social Studies and for Most Improved in Academics; the Sylvene Petty Award for Citizenship and Most Improved in Academics; the Calvin Ruan Award for Mathematics; Kaiyla’s Award for Science; the “Teacher Kelly” Award for Sports, Male; the Laura Richardson Award for Sports, Female; the Inspire Award; the Justin Richardson Award for Music; the Frankie Rogers Award for Music; the Canita Ruan Award for Visual Arts; the Claudius and Nardine Lake Award for Innovation; the Hon. Jose Vanterpool ICT Award; the Hon. Cora Richardson-Hodge ICT Award; the Delta Petroleum Award; and the Morris Vanterpool Award. Two other awards, namely: a Valedictorian Award; and a Salutatorian Award were contributed by Mr. Sam Webster, and were presented by his brother, the Hon. Premier, Dr. Ellis L. Webster.
The Valedictorian was Reynah Lico. In her address, she said that on behalf of the graduating class she wished to thank the Kindergarten and Grade One teachers for laying their educational foundation and for helping them during their developmental stages. By the same token, she thanked all of the other teachers who assisted them throughout the entire course of their learning at MVPS.
“I would especially like to thank Teacher Connie for inspiring me to participate in every sport a girl can join,” she said. “She saw my love for running and channeled it positively. I played football, netball, volleyball, and basketball. I also ran short races, long races – and even did some cycling. I loved competing for the Red Dragons.”
On behalf of the rest of the class, Reynah also thanked Teacher Hamewatie who guided them through Grade Six. “Thank you, Teacher Hamewatie,” she said, “for being so caring, hardworking and patient. It was a challenging year, but you kept us focused and encouraged us to complete the CPEA projects, and you stuck to the task of helping us get ready to complete our exams.”
The Vote of Thanks was delivered by the Salutatorian, Cael Smith. The graduands then presented an impressive display of Pastor Mike Juniors song, “Big”. Then, instructing the graduands to turn their tassels, Teacher Hamewatie officially presented the Class of 2022 to the audience. This was followed by an admirable recession of the class to sounds of Ada Ehi’s song, “Congratulations”.
