A lifelong affair with Goodwill
Bowen-Hudson happy to give back
As a past student of the Goodwill Primary and Infant School, it gives Judith Bowen-Hudson a special thrill to be back at her old school, located on the Trelawny-St James border.
The always-smiling 47-year-old Bowen-Hudson, who is the daughter of the school’s former principal, Kelvin Bowen, told the WESTERN STAR that it was the influence of her teachers and her father that cemented her love affair with school.
“In my situation, we had very strict and no-nonsense teachers. We had to be early for school, and we had to obey the bell when the bell rang,” said Bowen-Hudson.” We had teachers for each class, and we felt quite comfortable coming to school. That influenced me to come back and give back to Goodwill Primary.”
In regard to her father, whose influence figured in her decision to become a teacher and prompted her to return to Goodwill Primary and Infant School, Bowen-Hudson described him as a strict and no-nonsense person.
“School was like his home; every day of the week he would be here, and during the summer holidays we would come here to help him to get school ready for the beginning of the new school year.”
ENGAGING TASK
Bowen-Hudson, who attended Mt Alvernia High School in Montego Bay, and Central Connecticut State University in the United States, after she graduated from Goodwill Primary and Infant School, describes her own teaching experience at Goodwill as a rewarding and engaging task.
“I only wished more parents would help their children academically,” said Bowen-Hudson. “It is very hard at times, but also sometimes very rewarding when the students go to their examinations and they do very well.
“If parents would look at the students’ books more, maybe we would get better work out of them. These students these days, sometimes they are not interested, but if the students fail, then we fail, too,” added Bowen-Hudson.