WITH its motto, Readiness is the key, Signal Hill Secondary School, Tobago, has grown incrementally as a learning institution.

The school, which welcomed its first batch of students on February 7, 1977, is celebrating its 45th anniversary.

And while it did not host any in-person activities to commemorate the milestone owing to the covid19 pandemic an attempt was made to acknowledge the observance.

Building on a project they had started two years ago, when the school celebrated its 43rd anniversary, teachers Patrice Caruth-Jack and Kari Manswell decided this year to put the spotlight on past principals, teachers and students.

Caruth-Jack said they conducted interviews with alumni who had attained excellence for in a range of disciplines. All of the interviews were captured on video.

“For our 43rd anniversary, before covid19, we did a big production where we interviewed the current batch of students asking them what they loved about Signal Hill. We also used a drone and had them spelling out the letters of the school. But this year the focus was on past students and teachers,” she recalled in a Sunday Newsday interview.

“We invited students to send in their photos when they were at school and it was so much fun to see those pictures from all those years groups flowing.”

Among those interviewed were former principal Allison Potts, retired vice principal Zelma Cowie, former teacher and revered football coach Bertille St Clair and Hezekiah Wood, who was among the school’s first group of teachers in 1977.

Caruth-Jack said for the school’s 50th anniversary in 2027, they are hoping to highlight the future of Signal Hill Secondary.

“We came up with the concept of a trilogy – past, present and future. So in 2027 the focus will be on the future.”

The interviews for both anniversaries can be found on the school’s Facebook page.

Caruth-Jack said now that the country has returned to some semblance of normalcy, the school is hoping to properly acknowledge the anniversary during its graduation ceremony in early July.

[caption id="attachment_957159" align="alignnone" width="962"] Xavier King, Signal Hill Secondary's acting principal is also a past student. - PHOTO BY DAVID REID[/caption]

Acting principal Xavier King, who was among Signal Hill’s third intake of students in 1980, has fond memories of the school. He marvels at how far it has come since 1977.

“The ambience was very different. We were surrounded by trees, not the infrastructure there is today,” he said.

“At that time, we were just trying to get things together. It was quite under-developed when you consider it now.”

Back then, King recalled there were only a handful of teachers in comparison to the 80 staff members that are currently assigned to the school.

“Teachers were more or less limited because I remember in Mathematics, we only had one teacher and he taught O and A-Levels. So it was quite an experience then as a student.”

He said