Fifty years does not seem like a long time. However, for those associated with St. Mary High School, it means a lot. The school is celebrating its 50th anniversary as St Mary's and arguably eastern Jamaica's premier secondary institution.

The school, nestled in the hills of Highgate, St Mary, is celebrating the anniversary with a series of events over a six-month period, under the theme 'Sustaining the Legacy - Geared to the Times'. The scheduled activities will run from July 2009 to January 2010. The school was founded on January 12, 1960.

Scheduled activities include a church service, an inaugural founder's day fun day, fete and an extraordinary graduation ceremony for the school's 50th anniversary graduating class, all in July.

Main activities

The other main activities which are scheduled for January 2010 will include a week-long set of activities in what is being dubbed Founder's Week. It will kick off on Sunday January 10, 2010, with a church service. It will also see the staging of a health fair, a parade of the school's uniformed groups, the unveiling of a monument in honour of the first principal, L.G. Brown. The celebrations will culminate with a grand awards banquet.

Chairman of the 50th anniversary celebrations committee, Valerie Bedward, said planning for the series of events is well advanced. She adds that the planning committee, which has been in place for close to two years, meets regularly and is in the process of putting the final touches on the organisational machinery.

Bedward, who is a pioneer student of the school and currently serves as senior vice principal, points out that items aimed at promoting the grand event, are currently being sourced and will be available on the market soon. These include polo shirts, caps, bumper stickers and pens.