Campus B of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, now being attended by some five hundred students, including a substantial number just admitted from the Primary Schools, held a special youth programme on Friday, August 30. It was a prelude to the reopening of the school and a means of helping to settle in the students at the campus and expose them to a number of positive matters.
The Royal Anguilla Police Force, through its Community Relations Department, played a significant role in the event. Commissioner of Police, Rudolph Proctor, recalled that over the past seven years the Police Force had been partnering with the Education Department, the business community and a number of persons to deliver the Youth Development Programme. He explained that it was aimed at students entering the school for the first time.
“The programme is designed to make you aware of a number of areas that can, and will, provide some challenges as you embark on this step of your educational journey, “ he told the students. “The areas to be covered include drug use and abuse, sexual activities and health, anti-social behaviour, personal hygiene and proper dress codes.
“The aim of this annual programme is to equip you with information that can assist you, and prepare you, to enter this new phase in your lives where you are expected to function in a learning environment with respect and dignity for all the persons you are going to interact with for the first time.
“The resource persons for this programme are experienced and skilled professionals. They have worked in many areas of our community – and have seen first-hand the results of violence, drugs and anti-social behaviour on our young people and our communities. They are therefore equipped to share with you pertinent information that would assist you in making the right choices.
“There are too many young people in our community who are turning to violence and crime to settle differences which are having negative effects and impacts on our communities and island on a whole. It has always been the intention of the Royal Anguilla Police Force to work with individuals, organisations and institutions to implement programmes and activities – and to give our youth a chance to making the right choices in life, and provide them with the skills to deal with conflict in the school setting, the home and the community.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the benefits of the Youth Development Programme, and the impact that it will have as you enter the secondary school programme for the first time, will be of much value to you.”
Minister of Education, Jerome Roberts, said: “This particular programme is intended to educate our young people in several critical areas relevant to their development. It also comes at an opportune time when they begin their secondary level education at the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School.”
Mr Roberts was heartened that this and other youth development programmes served to complement the hard work of teachers by promoting among students an awareness of the challenges that lie ahead. “I am mindful of the fact that our society is changing and that there are varied and many circumstances in which our young people can find themselves,” the Minister said. “The techniques that will be imparted to these young minds today will serve a long way in their personal development and the development of Anguilla.”
He hoped that the students would avail themselves of the opportunity to receive the guidance and support that the Youth Development Programme offered to them.
Mrs Melsadis Fleming, Deputy Principal responsible for Campus B, commended the new students, in particular, for their smart bearing and appearance in the school’s uniform. She urged them to continue to appear in that manner and to be proud of themselves. “I want to see you looking just as smart and beautiful as you look today – with your uniform well tucked in, nicely ironed, very clean and everything well in order,” she stressed.
The event was the Eleventh Annual Youth Development Programme held at Campus B so far.
