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HOW MANY can attest to finding a profession they enjoy? And how many actually get to spend a lifetime doing exactly what they like? Hyacinth Baker is one such person, who has lived the life many have only dreamed. High in the cool climbs of the Dolphin Head Mountain, situated on the border of Clarendon and Manchester, Knox College has been the home of Mrs. Baker for the 26 years of her 36-year teaching career. She has attended the school in a number of capacities, starting as a student, and presently has been Vice Principal since 1992.
Despite being born in Manchester, Hyacinth spent most of her childhood in Clarendon. She attended elementary school in Thompson Town while boarding with a family friend. Many might say her life was disadvantaged - her mother died when she was only two and she lived away from the rest of her siblings while still very young - but Hyacinth has no remorse. She was the only girl of five children born to that union. Her father, a preacher, believed in education and insisted that her mother would have wanted her to attend high school. To facilitate this he boarded her out with a family friend who taught at Thompson Town Primary School. When her father remarried, her stepmother took on the noble task of raising his five children and later produced five more of her own.
Her relationship with Knox began as a student. She recalls that things were different then - classes were very small, no more than sixteen students in any class and most teachers were foreigners. After successfully completing her Senior Cambridge Examination, Hyacinth took the steps necessary to achieve her dream and enrolled into Shortwood Teachers College. It was good. The experiences were so varied, living with individuals from all types of backgrounds and learning things that she could take with her through life. At that time about 200 people attended the college, so you knew everybody. Teaching then was not so specific. You had to master all areas and were expected to be able to teach any age group, infant to senior. Her first job was with Shortwood Practising where she taught for a year before moving on to teach at Bellfield Secondary in Manchester. In 1977 she rejoined her alma mater, Knox College, in her new role as teacher, while specialising in a Geography and History degree at the University of the West Indies. She met her husband after college and they have been married now for thirty-one years. Although she had grown up with one and had been warned about the trials of marrying a preacher, she ended up marrying an Apostolic Minister.
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