The 91st anniversary of St Augustine's College is being commemorated.
Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Coast, has urged students to appropriately prepare themselves to fulfill the needs of society, particularly in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic and post-COVID-19.
He claimed that if students looked beyond the issues facing the world and resolved to pursue solutions that might arise as a result of the epidemic, they would have a beneficial impact on society.
“If our generation, especially kids, prepares to face the realities of COVID-19 today and in the coming years, the future will be bright.”
This was said by the Most Rev. Palmer Buckle in his address at the school's 91st anniversary celebration, which was held in Cape Coast last Saturday.
The Archbishop, who just recovered from COVID-19, stated that the pandemic and life after the pandemic would necessitate imaginative thinking to enable communities to live meaningful lives in a comfortable manner.
Celebration
The 91st anniversary event also brought to a close the 90th anniversary commemoration, which had been postponed owing to the pandemic last year.
The event was restricted to just former students, school management, and other visitors for the first time in the history of the school's festivities, as a precautionary step. Students were exempted, which was the reason it was conducted at a durbar site off the college campus.
Prof. George Armah, a professor of virology at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and a former student of the college (APSU ‘74), was the Guest Speaker, while Mr Paul Nguyen, the Managing Director of EDC, a subsidiary of Ecobank Ltd, was the Keynote Speaker.
Some Forms Two and Three students were recognized for their academic performance, and arrangements had been made for them to pick up their prizes at the college's administration office as the awards were being announced.
Solution-seeking
While encouraging children to study harder in order to meet the demands of these new times, the Archbishop also emphasized the importance of the school administration and parents in grooming pupils to rise above the current situation's challenges.
As the topic for this year's celebration, "Rising Above the COVID-19 Situation," it asks for "the training of our future scientists toward discovering a definite treatment, once and for all, for this and other viral illnesses."
In his remarks, Prof. Armah emphasized the importance of maintaining strict adherence to the rules in order to prevent the pandemic from spreading.
COVID-19, he added, had arrived to stay, and institutions needed to put in place measures to prevent the virus's spread while also ensuring that life returned to normal by, among other things, encouraging people to take the vaccines that had been made available.
Fund for Endowment
Mr Mante, the Chairman, praised the ceremony's organization in the midst of COVID-19, and suggested that the collaboration between the 1995 and 1996 year groups should encourage other APSUNIAN year groups to collaborate to host speech days on a larger scale in the future.
He committed his company's initial assistance of GH10,000.
Two legacy projects were commissioned as part of the school's 91st anniversary festivities. They were completed by two APSU year groups.
The 1996 year group took on the kitchen re-tooling project while the 1995 year group worked on refurbishing the College Library.
The GH400,000 kitchen retooling project comprised the installation of 12 new commercial stoves, the reconstruction of a kenkey shed, and the refurbishing and replacement of equipment and tools, among other things.
Mr Charles Nortey Narh, the convener of the APSU ‘96 year group, indicated that the decision to furnish the school's kitchen with new adapted tools was sparked by ... .
Recognition
Mr Joseph Connel, the school's immediate past Headmaster, who served from 2008 to 2020, was recognized with a citation and an undisclosed sum of money for his contributions to the school's growth, particularly in the area of discipline.
During his tenure, he was lauded as a leader who imposed discipline in kids and kept a quiet environment.
St. Augustine's College is a Catholic college in the United States.
At 1930, the Catholic Church founded an all-male senior high school in Amissano, a town near Elmina, to function as a training college and seminary.
St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD) was the inspiration for the school's name.
The Catholic Church and Monsignor W. T. Porter, Bishop of Cape Coast Vicariate, decided on a distinct Catholic school on August 6, 1933, and Cape Coast was considered to be the most suitable place, and a commemorative foundation stone was thus put in 1935 at the current site.
The first Headmaster of St Augustine was Rev. Fr Maurice B. Kelly, then-Dean of the Training College at Amisano.