Educator Anthony Falloon to deliver William Knibb’s Founder’s Day lecture
WESTERN BUREAU:
William Knibb Memorial High School, the alma mater of track and field legend Usain Bolt, will mark its 64th anniversary with a Founder’s Day Lecture tomorrow in the school’s auditorium. Former principal Anthony Falloon, a noted figure in education throughout the Caribbean, will deliver the lecture.
Ellis Laing, the chairman of communications for the William Knibb Alumni, said the lecture will give an insight on the history of the school and many of its noteworthy achievements.
“This will be the second lecture and will be delivered by former principal Anthony Falloon. He will focus on the theme, “Looking at our past as we stride into the future,” said Laing.
Falloon, a noted educator served as the sixth principal of the school, serving between 1976 and 1981, before migrating to Trinidad, where he served as Registrar at the St Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies.
He is a devoted member of the Baptist Church, serving in various capacities in the Jamaica Baptist Union.
Laing disclosed that, in his lecture, Falloon will delve into the lives and legacies of three individuals, who all made indelible marks on the history of the school.
“The three persons are Reverend Stephen James, the founder of the school. He was pastor to the Kettering Circuit of Baptist Churches when he founded the school in 1961; The Reverend C. Sam Reid, who while serving as pastor of the Calvary Circuit of Baptist Churches, served two stints as chairman; and Usain Bolt, who won Jamaica’s first Olympic 100 metres gold medal in 2008,” said Laing.
Marjorie Blake, a teacher at the school and a member of the organising committee for the Founder’s Day Lecture, said the event offers an opportunity to examine the history of the school and the vision going forward.
“This is an important step in the annals of the school. It will guide students and the wider community into the path history will play as the future unfolds,” said Blake, who is inviting all and sundry to turn out for the event.
William Knibb started out as a private high school operating out of a scenic Georgian building owned by the Baptist Church along Market Street, in Falmouth. The school became a government-owned school in 1976, albeit maintaining it close ties with the Baptist Church. It moved from the Market Street location to its current location in 1977.