St. Thomas Schools To Participate In JISHeritage Debate

Students from four high schools in St. Thomas are slated to participate in the Jamaica Information Service’s (JIS) Heritage Debate to be held at the Anglican Church Hall in Morant Bay on Thursday, October 23.
The four schools participating are Seaforth High, Yallahs, St. Thomas Technical and Morant Bay High. They will argue the moot: ‘Be it resolved that Paul Bogle died in vain’.
Rev. Remia Gordon, Guidance Counsellor at Seaforth High, told JIS News that the competition would allow the students to research and learn more about Paul Bogle and the Morant Bay Uprising during 1865. “Their knowledge base would have been expanded and having done research, they would recognize that things have changed a lot. So, I think it will enable the students to take another look at history and see how others have sacrificed their time, money and energy and their life to bring about this change,” she stated.
“I’m nervous, yes, but I have everything under control,” Taneesha Green, student of Seaforth High and first speaker of the proposition team told JIS News. Taneesha said that she was quite familiar with the rules of debating, as she had represented her school on one occasion. “The moot is rather interesting, not that I agree with our stand, but I’m comfortable with it,” she added.
Raymond Scott, teacher at St. Thomas Technical High, who is preparing the students for the debate, told JIS said that the competition would sharpen the students research skills and “their ability to decipher what is relevant from a sea of information.”
In addition, he noted that it would make them more aware of the history of the parish and the significance of the Morant Bay rebellion. “Preparations have been going very well.
The students are eager to learn and in the same breath finding their own way in accessing information using all the various data from newspapers, books, magazine, pamphlets, the electronic media and the internet,” he added Head Girl of St. Thomas Technical High, Apollonia Davidson, said she willingly agreed to represent her school because it would enable her to learn more about the history of Paul Bogle. “I think everyone who enters the competition has a fair chance of winning. It is how you present your argument and the confidence that you portray to the judges,” she noted.
Judges for the competition are Maureen Thompson, Senior Librarian, St. Thomas Parish Library; Rev. Agorom Dike, Pastor of Faith Baptist Church and Yolanda Henry, Lecturer at Excelsior Community College in Kingston.
Prizes for the first and second place teams include trophies, book vouchers, bank accounts and gift baskets. Each participant will also receive a JIS certificate of participation.
The prizes will be provided by the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited, St. Thomas Co-operative Credit Union, Soft Sheen Products Limited, Ultimate World Auto Parts, Splendour Pac and Air Jamaica Limited.
Other sponsors are Chicken & More, Serge Island Dairies Limited, Juici Patties, Yallahs Farmers Store, Salguod Hardware, S&A Supplies and the St. Thomas Parish Council.