RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Na­pari­ma Col­lege, un­doubt­ed­ly one of this coun­try's top sec­ondary schools is cel­e­brat­ing its 129th an­niver­sary, ho­n­our­ing its founders in a pomp cer­e­mo­ny at the school.

Among those re­ceiv­ing praise was Dr Al­lan Mc Ken­zie, the col­lege's longest-serv­ing prin­ci­pal in whose ho­n­our the Sci­ence Block was of­fi­cial­ly re-named on Thurs­day.

Dr Mc Ken­zie was un­able to at­tend the func­tion and re­tired vice prin­ci­pal Dev Go­sine de­liv­ered a speech on his be­half.

Go­sine told Guardian Me­dia that Mc Ken­zie car­ried on the team­work and ded­i­ca­tion to stu­dents which is the se­cret to the school's suc­cess.

Go­sine ex­plained that the Col­lege did not have bel­liger­ent par­ents and at all lev­els, the fo­cus was to work co­he­sive­ly to bring out the best in stu­dents.

He laud­ed teach­ers say­ing they have ded­i­cat­ed them­selves to pro­duc­ing all-around pupils. Go­sine said while it was im­por­tant to at­tain aca­d­e­m­ic qual­i­fi­ca­tions, it was equal­ly im­por­tant to be able to so­cial­ize with friends, con­tribute to so­ci­ety pro­duc­tive­ly and al­so be a pos­i­tive in­flu­ence on oth­ers.

Go­sine said Dr Mc Ken­zie who is now 89, served from 1966 to 1993 and was re­spon­si­ble for the suc­cess the school en­joys these past few decades.

He said the school copped its first Pres­i­dent's Gold Medal in 1987.

This year, the school has con­tin­ued to soar win­ning the 2023 Na­tion­al Sec­ondary Schools Ju­nior Panora­ma, as well as the 2023 in­au­gur­al Sec­ondary Schools Tas­sara­ma, Go­sine added.

In ho­n­our of Dr McKen­zie's con­tri­bu­tion, the school's Sci­ence Block was re-named the Al­lan I. McKen­zie Sci­ence Block.