"There was a little girl who loved reading so much that she even made the toilet a favourite reading spot. Books were her best friends. She was taunted a lot, even by her siblings, who called her a 'book worm.' It was even suggested that something was wrong with her, because she loved to read so much." In her feature address to students and parents of the Princes Town Methodist School Class of 2011, AP Toussaint revealed that that little girl was her, and little did she know at that time that she was preparing for the future. She advised the students that "To Earn Tomorrow You have to Learn Today"-alluding to the graduation theme on display. In those days, she revealed, she was very talkative and was often punished for it. Today, however, she is being paid to talk. Toussaint even loved writing as a child, and her father often told her she would not be able to make a living as a writer. "He never lived to see that day," Toussaint said.
By then the guest speaker, cum life coach, had abandoned the microphone, as she felt it was restricting her ability to get close and comfy with the audience. She was pleasantly surprised when she called upon the students to sing the Mighty Sparrow's famous ditty Education, and they immediately broke into verse and chorus. It became a sing-along, with parents joining in. She virtually had them eating out of her hands, as she emphasised on certain lines in the calypso. Even the Superintendent Minister-Reverend Derick Richards and Reverend Shermin Wilkins, as well as the Methodist Board secretary, Pearl Mulrain, who had earlier delivered greetings, joined the singing. The new principal, Marva Gordon, was no exception. "Parenting is not an easy task today," directed at the parents, adding that the bible was the parenting manual for, and highlighting Proverbs 22:6-"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it." Toussaint mentioned that one of the greatest compliments she ever received as a parent was that "her son is so mannerly."
She said that as a single mom she couldn't do it without God's help, and stressed on the importance of prayer through all her struggles, encouraging parents to pray with and for their children. And just as she charged students to let their dreams come true, she charged parents to encourage them in making their dreams a reality. "We talk about a bright future but at the same time we continue to say negative things to our charges. 'You good for nothing...just like your...' What we say to them will determine how they turn out. Life and death is in the power of the tongue. "If we want children in whom we will be proud we have to be parents that they are proud of," she stressed. Toussaint said this country was in trouble and said it pained her to see what was going on with our children. She pleaded with parents to pay attention to their children's gifts and talents, as well as to highlight when fathers are doing good things. When it came time for the students to display their wares before their parents and guests, the pannists under the astute tutelage of Noel Skair sang and played Gloria Estafan's Reach. Other students performed a dance piece.The occasion also climaxed the victorious year for the school's steelband as they placed third in the National Primary Schools Music Festival, after landing the second position in the South Eastern District with Let there be Peace on Earth.