St. Thomas Aquinas at every step of the academic journey policed students so much so that, the system probed far beyond the character formation, the academic and comportment angles.
Marking of attendance registers was a quotidian task of class prefects – Daniel Koffi, Form 1, Kojo Ayew Laryea (Anderson), Forms 2 and 3.
Ordinarily one would think that the registers were to just police who came to school and more importantly did not “escape” that is, bolt before closing. Registers were marked late in the school day.
It turned out that it was not only for purposes of computing how many days a student came to school that the records were kept. The welfare bit was closely tied to the registers, attendance if you want.
This is how Hajia Fati’s son suffered an ailment that kept boy outta school for a while. When health got back to normal settings, I arrived to continue the hustle of trying to be part of a crazy set that never failed to disappoint – Science Three, Agric.
Then I was sent for by Sister Claudette, at the time our ONE and ONLY foreigner staff. Ah, Sister Claudette looking for me, say what? I went, she offered me a seat in her cute office, oh yeah, she also had a cute car – some Tico be like that.
Then the questions began to flow. Among others; why was I absent, do I have issues at home, would I need financial support, how many siblings did I have and on and on. If it happened in the wake of 9/11 – that was a clear case of racial profiling.
I "fired back" that my old boy was a poor barber – a peasant one at that, but we lived a good life. I didn’t need jack from the system save for the education that brought me, records showed I hardly owed fees. I was fine, our old boy sacrificed enough to keep us comfortably bubbly.
I’d later come to know how some students had been put on a school financial support system apparently after checks had been made on their respective situations. Some I also learnt actually applied for the support.
You see, this was way before I came to know that SAT receiving schools gave financial aid – a rather cantankerous application process. Aquinas always stepped up to shoulder the burden of each person under its umbrella at any point in time.
Back to Sister Claudette, she was a sweet soft-spoken fella. Always in her sky-blue attire and of course the cross straddling her neck – more prouder that Weezy with his blings or Shatta and his Alumi (Sarkodie too dey worry).
Sister Claudette will on a good day be seen crisscrossing the blocks as she heads to and from the reading room top of the then Form 2 block, there was where her office was located.
She made it to assembly and other gatherings as and when she was around. She was of course also respected by other staff members. Whiles we bowed literally on seeing her, Old Toms usually fell short of scooping her and tossing her in the air.
In or at Aquinas if you like, it was much more than you bargained for at every turn. Roles were cut out, you hardly could claim not to know who did what. It wasn’t always joyful but it was worth the experience.
We students of Aquinas, in striving for perfection,
In spirit, soul and body; we pray to Most High God
With humility and steadfastness
We tread the footsteps of our patron saint
Aquinas, St. Aquinas, we plead with you to lead us
Aquinas, St. Aquinas, from victory to victory
From victory to victory
Marking of attendance registers was a quotidian task of class prefects – Daniel Koffi, Form 1, Kojo Ayew Laryea (Anderson), Forms 2 and 3.
Ordinarily one would think that the registers were to just police who came to school and more importantly did not “escape” that is, bolt before closing. Registers were marked late in the school day.
It turned out that it was not only for purposes of computing how many days a student came to school that the records were kept. The welfare bit was closely tied to the registers, attendance if you want.
This is how Hajia Fati’s son suffered an ailment that kept boy outta school for a while. When health got back to normal settings, I arrived to continue the hustle of trying to be part of a crazy set that never failed to disappoint – Science Three, Agric.
Then I was sent for by Sister Claudette, at the time our ONE and ONLY foreigner staff. Ah, Sister Claudette looking for me, say what? I went, she offered me a seat in her cute office, oh yeah, she also had a cute car – some Tico be like that.
Then the questions began to flow. Among others; why was I absent, do I have issues at home, would I need financial support, how many siblings did I have and on and on. If it happened in the wake of 9/11 – that was a clear case of racial profiling.
I "fired back" that my old boy was a poor barber – a peasant one at that, but we lived a good life. I didn’t need jack from the system save for the education that brought me, records showed I hardly owed fees. I was fine, our old boy sacrificed enough to keep us comfortably bubbly.
I’d later come to know how some students had been put on a school financial support system apparently after checks had been made on their respective situations. Some I also learnt actually applied for the support.
You see, this was way before I came to know that SAT receiving schools gave financial aid – a rather cantankerous application process. Aquinas always stepped up to shoulder the burden of each person under its umbrella at any point in time.
Back to Sister Claudette, she was a sweet soft-spoken fella. Always in her sky-blue attire and of course the cross straddling her neck – more prouder that Weezy with his blings or Shatta and his Alumi (Sarkodie too dey worry).
Sister Claudette will on a good day be seen crisscrossing the blocks as she heads to and from the reading room top of the then Form 2 block, there was where her office was located.
She made it to assembly and other gatherings as and when she was around. She was of course also respected by other staff members. Whiles we bowed literally on seeing her, Old Toms usually fell short of scooping her and tossing her in the air.
In or at Aquinas if you like, it was much more than you bargained for at every turn. Roles were cut out, you hardly could claim not to know who did what. It wasn’t always joyful but it was worth the experience.
We students of Aquinas, in striving for perfection,
In spirit, soul and body; we pray to Most High God
With humility and steadfastness
We tread the footsteps of our patron saint
Aquinas, St. Aquinas, we plead with you to lead us
Aquinas, St. Aquinas, from victory to victory
From victory to victory
Depending on which matter led to you encountering her, she actually was but not limited to:
C - Cute
L - Loving
A - Astute
U - Usual
D - Dedicated
E - Enterprising
T - Timely
T - Trusted
E - Endearing
16 Safar, 1440 = 25 October, 2018
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