By George Henry, Gleaner WriterCLARENDON:
THE KNOX College High School family took time out on Friday to celebrate Founders Day. It is a day in the life of that institution which is treated with much respect, as the school uses it to remember those who toiled hard to build what has become one of the leading institutions started by the Presbyterian Church (now United Church).
The chief activities were staged in the school's auditorium, in front of a packed audience, and included all members of the academic staff and all students, as well as the widow and daughter of one of the founders.
The main part of the function was a walk back in time, when former principal of Knox Junior School, Gloria Swaby, gave a synopsis of the history of the institution.
Her recall of the start and development of the institution had all present listening attentively. By the time she was through, everyone had learnt something new about the place.
Mrs. Swaby said Knox started under the Presbyterian Church in 1947, out of an idea that high school education should be provided for students of rural Jamaica.
She pointed out that the institution was started by two of the youngest elders in the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Lewis Davidson, who was at Wolmer's Boys' School, and David Bent, a contractor.
MANDATE
Mrs. Swaby, who went to Knox to teach in the early 1960s, said the formation of the school came about following a number of discussions at a number of Synods of the church, and the two young elders were given the mandate to go in search of land on which to construct the building.
The former Knox Junior High principal added that the institution has gone through many changes since she stepped on the grounds in the early 1960s, to the extent where the compound on which the school is located now boasts a Community College and a Junior School. She stated that it was good to see how much the institution has developed into a lovely complex of schools, contributing significantly to the nation's education.
