House in Christiansted on December 17 after a tremendous job of organizing the JGES
Week-long 60th Anniversary celebration. Celebrating 60 Years of Transforming Hearts, Minds and Lives
The Juanita Gardine Elementary School family recently celebrated the history of their school in grand style --60 years of offering continuous academic instruction to elementary school children in the Richmond area on St. Croix. The school, under its previous names, Christiansted Public Grammar School and Grammar School, moved to the Richmond area in 1955 from its previous site at the Christiansted Public Library. In 1974, the school campus was re-named “Juanita Gardine” in honor of a distinguished educator and former principal.
A week of celebratory activities culminated on Thursday, December 17, 2015 at a Government House Recognition Reception. “It was a beautiful and historic night. Attendees were given a remarkable educational journey by guest speaker Mrs. Dorene James, retired Coordinator of English for the Department of Education,” said Gardine School Assistant Principal Anna Marie Gordon.
Ms. James cataloged the history of education from Danish times, the historic move from the Christiansted area of both old Christiansted High School and the Christiansted Public Grammar School in 1955, to the current or most recent history of the naming of the school as the Juanita Gardine Elementary School in 1974. A wonderful dance performance was given by the JGES Quadrille dancers, advised by Ms. Patricia Browne and Mrs. Marcia Johnson. The students also led the gathering in the singing of the school song. A special selection was also performed on the keyboard by Mr. Otis Gibbs, JGES music teacher. Words of greetings were provided by Acting St. Croix Superintendent Mr. Vaughn Hewitt; Assistant Commissioner of Education Chermaine Hobson-Johnson, and Mrs. Stephanie Williams representing the Honorable Governor Kenneth Mapp.
The highlight of the program was the awarding of tokens to honorees: faculty/staff members who served the JGES family for 25 years or more received glass sun – catcher plates with the Hurricanes’ logo and the dates of the celebration; administrators who served Juanita Gardine Elementary received Jan Mitchell plates with the school’s name and logo; guest speaker James received a Jan Mitchell hibiscus clock, and the family of Mrs. Juanita F. Gardine, represented by her daughter, Mrs. Letitia Gardine- Gittens, received a Jan Mitchell windmill clock. For each award, the gathering was given the symbolism behind each gift by Assistant Principal Anna Marie Gordon.
Mrs. Gardine-Gittens shared the vision of her mother’s memory, and expressed appreciation for her mother’s life and work being remembered. Miss Gordon then gave a surprise recognition of thanks to the entire team at Gardine School who helped bring the entire week of activities to fruition. Each received a wooden plaque with the Hurricanes’ logo and the words “Thank you!” The final acknowledgement went to Ms. Janet Pringle, staff member and honoree, who was the catalyst for the entire celebration in that she is the school’s resident historian, and brought to light the fact that this was the 60th year of existence of educational offerings to elementary school students in the Richmond area. The celebratory night concluded with a sumptuous spread prepared by Chef Doos and the students of the CTEC culinary class.
The week of activities also included a kickoff program on Sunday, December 13 titled, “Our School Family through the Decades – 1955 – 2015.” It was a wonderful time of reminiscing, as the audience was led through an historical walk of the scenes and times of each decade,” said Gardine School Assistant Principal Gordon.
On Monday, December 14, students were to a “real life” museum in the school library. Librarian Janice Ferdinand, along with other team members, transformed the library into a world class museum. There were artifacts such as coal pots, iron skillets, long playing records, aluminum bowls and mugs, record players, a dial up telephone with the hook, wash pans and even potties. The children were amazed that the precursor to the computer was something called the typewriter, where there was no spell check or way to delete easily!
Parents were celebrated on Tuesday, December 15, 2015 with a mini fair. After shadowing their children for the first 45 minutes of the day, parents then went into the auditorium for a brief mini fair. Presentations were given by Ms. Kendall Tutein and Ms. Merle Wynter of The Village, who shared information on the Strengthening Families Project. Presentations were also made by in-house staff members, Counselors Bough and Canton, and Nurse Witmer. The final presentations were made by the P.T.A. President Mrs. Anna Tutein and grandparent, Ms. Lornette Caines.
The school’s PBIS Team and the PBIS 60th Anniversary Committee worked collaboratively to organize Juanita Gardine Elementary School’s commemoration.
JUANITA GARDINE's daughter, Letitia Gardine-Gittens receives a Windmill Clock on behalf of her mother’scontributions to education in the Virgin Islands.
