Sixteen students and six teachers from the Eastside Charter School in Wilmington, Delaware travelled 870.3 miles by air and sea to meet students at the C. H. Reeves Junior School located in Montell Heights and plant flowers in the school’s Peace Garden.
Eastside Charter School is a middle school of approximately four hundred students in Wilmington, Delaware located next to the state of Philadelphia. The school caters to students from kindergarten to grade eight. According to its principal, Dr. Lamont Browne, the staff and students of the school decided last year to visit another school in a different country to interact with other students. The goal of the trip was to expose the prospective graduates to a different culture. According to Dr. Browne, “We wanted to give them a unique experience prior to them moving on to high school. It was our Vice Principal, Ms. Letisha Laws, who suggested The Bahamas and here we are today.”
The school contacted the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in September 2012 to seek permission to establish a relationship with a local school. After several attempts, they connected with Mrs. Eulease Beneby, Superintendent for the Southeastern District who referred them to C. H. Reeves Junior High School. The two schools then started communicating through emails. They actually became penpals to 8th grade students of the school’s Business Subject Coordinator, Mrs. R. Wells.
After nine months of planning, the visitors arrived in Nassau onboard a Disney Cruise ship. They were greeted by the school’s principal, Ms. Greta Brown and District Superintendent Beneby and other faculty members of the C. H. Reeves Junior High School and taken by bus to the school. There, they were greeted by hundreds of excited students and teachers. Instantly, cameras were snapping and greetings exchanged between the guests and the hosts.
Immediately after the introductions, some of the students from C. H. Reeves challenged their counterparts from Eastside to a basketball shoot out, but Principal Greta Brown refocused their energies on the planting project. Soon holes were dug; old roots pulled; plants placed in the ground; covered with soil and mulch, and watered. Among the flowers they planted were Hibiscus, Impatiens and Plumdagoes.
The group paused for a moment for the presentation of tokens by the principal, district superintendent and some students. Each of the bags contained a C. H. Reeves’ Raptor’s t-shirt, a poster and other trinkets.
Principal Brown told the guests that they were delighted to have them in Raptors’ Country and that they must see The Bahamas as a second home. She also told her counterpart, Dr. Browne that the relationship must continue even after the visit and that they will always have a home in The Bahamas. Dr. Browne thanked his hosts on behalf of his school.
Jacinda Fields, an eighth grade student from Eastside said that she was happy to be in The Bahamas and that within seconds of their arrival on the campus she made so many friends.
C. H. Reeves Junior High School teachers and students celebrated a new found friendship with their counterparts from Eastside Charter School out of Wilmington, Delaware with the planting of new flora in C. H. Reeves’ Peace Garden. Pictured are teachers and students from both schools.
“It seems like yesterday that we found out we were coming to The Bahamas. I was so excited about coming to The Bahamas since I have never travelled outside of The United States,” the bubbly student proclaimed. She also shared how impressed she was by the friendliness of the students who asked her questions and wanted to learn about her. The two groups have discussed C. H. Reeves students traveling to Wilmington next year.
Giovanni Thompson, an eighth grade C. H. Reeves’ student, said that he was excited about having the visitors at his school and that he enjoyed working with them in the Peace Garden.
After the planting, some of the C. H. Reeves students engaged the Eastside students in a spontaneous dance session and later the guests were treated to Bahamian coconut tart and Goombay Punch. The two schools did have their basketball shoot-out which resulted in a one game victory for each side. After the festivities it was back on the bus for the guests’ return to Bay Street. Their last stop on their Nassau trip was a visit to the World Famous Straw Market Street where they purchased t-shirts and other souvenirs.
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
Caption: Eastside Charter School teacher, Nicholas Medaglio and Zion Clarke, an 8th Grade student are near a Plumdago flower they planted in the Garden of Peace to commemorate the friendship which has blossomed between the two schools.
