Commonwealth Day Ceremony

Commonwealth Day is celebrated on the second Monday of March every year.
Today, 10th of March, 2008 Commonwealth was observed in Marian Academy.
There was a procession of flag-bearers, pupils of Forms 2-1 & 2-2, who presented the Commonwealth countries and the years they became part of the association. It was beautiful to see all the different colours of the waving paper flags.
After the presentation, our very own history teacher Ms. Hemmie Glasgow read the Commonwealth message. Following, was special invitee Mrs. Mahadeo, a frequent visitor to Marian Academy explained the goals and achievements commonwealth wishes to accomplish in Guyana and other joint countries.
Mr. Andre Pompey, our Science teacher, covered the cake with icing when he presented a marvelous vote of thanks. Just after, the special invitees were escorted off stage.
Throughout the years Commonwealth Day has been observed in Marian Academy, this was probably the best.

By
Praneeta Persaud
Form 2-2

Report II

Today, the tenth of March, Commonwealth Day was acknowledged at Marian Academy. Commonwealth Day is recognised and commemorated on the second Monday in March every year. The Commonwealth ceremony took place in the school's auditorium with the gathering of teachers and students from both Primary and Secondary department at approximately 10:00am.The ceremony began with the singing of the National Anthem by all the attendees. Next, there was an opening prayer by Mr. Lloyd King who happened to be the Master of Ceremonies for this interesting event. There was a procession and display of the Commonwealth Flags by the students of Form 2(1) and 2(2) who enlightened us on the years these countries became members of the Commonwealth. Ms. Hemmie Glasgow gave the Commonwealth Day message which encouraged the conservation of our forests and the environment in general, also taking into consideration our future. Remarks were made by the guest speaker Mrs. Sumedeo Mahadeo (Botanist-Guyana Forestry Commission). She also congradulated Marian Academy on our full support in Forest Preservation. We then had an interpretive dance by a member of the dance club and a musical rendition(Song of Guyana's Children) was done by four students of Form 3(F). Mr. Andre Pompey gave the vote of thanks and the ceremony was called to a close with the singing of the School Song. Over all this ceremony was great and interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By

Raeanna Clarke

Form 3(F)

Marian Academy’s 2008 Debating Competition

This year’s debating competition was held in Marian Academy’s auditorium. The judges were Mr. Pompey the school’s Biology and Chemistry teacher, Mr. Charles the Geography teacher for the school and special invitee, Mr. Andrew Mendes.
This year’s moot was “A booming lumber industry is more beneficial than the preservation of our forests.” Our Lady of Guadeloupe as the proposition and Our Lady of Fatima as the opposition. Guadeloupe sent up Pascale Mendes as their first speaker, Krysta Yan as their second speaker and Mary Fung-a-Fat as their third speaker. While Our Lady of Fatima produced Prineeta Persaud as their first speaker, Jairo Rodrigues as their second speaker and Jana Edghill as their third speaker. Also Our Lady of Coromoto was the opposition and Our Lady of Lourdes the proposition. Our Lady of Coromoto sent forward Denesha Smith As their first speaker, Raeanna Clarke as their second speaker as their second speaker and Ashley Perune as their third speaker. Our Lady of Lourdes produced Kelicia Daniels as their first speaker, Meshach Pierre as their second speaker and Kia Beharry as their third speaker.
The teams battled for an hour with the following results; Our Lady of Guadeloupe with 200 points and Our Lady of Fatima with 215 points. The Best Speaker was awarded to Jana Edghill from Our Lady of Fatima. And Our Lady of Coromoto securing the victory in their round with 239 points and Our Lady of Lourdes defeated with 205 points. The Best Speaker was awarded to Denesha Smith from Our Lady of Coromoto.
In the senior division the moot was a more challenging one; “Cigarette smoking is more environmentally friendly than industrial development.” In the first round Our Lady of Lourdes faced Our Lady of Guadeloupe. Our Lady of Guadeloupe sent up David Lowe, Sarina Kawall and Vashkti Baksh as their 1st, 2nd and 3rd speaker respectively. While Our Lady of Fatima produced Micha Barton, Michelle Ford and Joseph Persaud as their 1st,2nd and 3rd speakers respectively. Our Lady of Guadeloupe stole the victory from Our Lady of Lourdes with 264 points and Our Lady of Lourdes scored 261 points. The Best Speaker was awarded to Aimara Pierre from our Lady of Lourdes. Meanwhile Our Lady of Coromoto accepted defeat from Our Lady of Fatima. Fatima scored 247 points while Coromoto scored 243 points. The Best Speaker was awarded to Michelle Ford from Our Lady of Fatima.
Overall, in first position was Our Lady of Coromoto with 482 points, in second position was Our Lady of Guadeloupe with 464 points, third position, Our Lady of Lourdes with 466 and Our Lady of Fatima with 462 points.

By

Allana Bose

Marian Academy’s 2008 Elocution Competition

Marian Academy held its annual elocution competition. The school’s houses took part in this competition. For the junior round of the competition, Our Lady of Fatima sent up Tiffany, Our Lady of Guadeloupe produced Samaria Deonauth, Our Lady of Lourdes sent Kimberly Camash and Our Lady of Coromoto produced Raeanna Clarke. In the senior round of the competition Our Lady of Guadeloupe sent up Tianne Anderson, Our Lady of Fatima produced Natasha Best, Our Lady of Coromoto sent Shaunée Thompson and Our Lady of Lourdes sent up Sophia Bess.
In the junior round, in first position was Our Lady of Coromoto, in second position was Our Lady of Guadeloupe, in third position was Our Lady of Lourdes and in fourth position was Our Lady of Fatima.
In the senior round, Our Lady of Coromoto snagged first position, in second position was Our Lady of Lourdes, in third position was Our Lady of Guadeloupe and in fourth position was Our Lady of Fatima.

By

Allana Bose

Marian Academy’s 2008 Republic Day Celebrations

Marian Academy’s Annual Mashramani Concert was held on the 22 nd of February, 2008 in the school’s auditorium. This year’s theme was “Let’s work together and celebrate in 2008.” The concert has been going strong for many years and has always been chair manned by the fifth formers, who always do an excellent job. The classes always awe the audience with their various performances, be it dance, song or poetry.
The opening ceremony of the concert was one to remember this year; it began with a parade by the Marian Academy drummers. All four verses of the National Anthem were sung in accordance with the Republic Day celebrations and a prayer was said by the school’s English teacher, Brother Banda. Also, Mashramani was defined by student Ashley Khalil and then the concert was declared open.
The little nurseries never cease to amaze us with their performances. Many of their classes dressed ethnically for the occasion and sang a variety of songs; the crowd was supportive and cheered the young ones on. They were also acrostics performed by the nurseries, they represented Mashramani and Guyana. Also the Marian Academy Dance Club was spectacular in their performance where the secondary students were on the stage, while the primary students entertained the audience by moving through them. They were a few technical difficulties but the performance managed to go on. Also the primary four students shocked the crowds where the boys and the girls performed; this was a first for the spectators. The primary choir sang “My Guyana Eldorado” from within the crowds; this year’s concert was indeed full of surprises! They were many other wonderful performances; too numerous to mention.
We can all agree that this year’s Republic Day Celebrations was greatly enjoyed by all those who spectated and presented. Hopefully next year’s celebrations will be bigger and better.

By

Allana Bose

Marian Academy Blood Drive

On St. Valentine's Day, 14th February, 2008, Marian Academy hosted the first blood drive by a school in the history of Guyana. This drive was in collaboration with The Guyana Red Cross and The National Blood Transfusion Service. The idea of hosting a drive at a school was to educate the children on the importance of giving blood and on how they could be a hero by simply encouraging someone else to donate blood or volunteer with a blood drive.

This resulted in 99 family members and friends of our school's students and teachers being prepared to give blood and a total of 77 units of blood being collected, the largest blood drive in Guyana!The Principal along with teachers and 19 students were all donors on that wonderful day!

Family members also donated enough snacks to feed the donors and to supply Red Cross for a few more of their monthly blood drives.

The school received a plaque of achievement and three certificates were distributed as follows:Child that had the most donors: Mickelly RahamanHouse that had the most donors: Our Lady of GuadeloupeClass that had the most donors: 4/F

Other than the plaque and certificates, a few people were specially thanked but there were so many more that the list would have been too long to mention every one. The students played a huge role from beginning to end, the seniors made decorations and posters, and helped with the organisation, the primary made beautiful 'thank you' for our donors.

Through this drive we hope to achieve the education of life saving! A life savers club will be formed at Marian academy of which over 50 senior students have already shown interest. This will begin in the new term.

We look forward to next year when we can do this again with much more experience!!!

By

Mrs.Nicky Mendes