York Castle first 5K and beach bashment for October 13
THE York Castle High School in St Ann is set to host its first 5K run/ walk on October 13 in Salem, Runaway Bay.
The event is being put on by the school’s alumni, Jamaica Chapter, in an effort to raise funds for York Castle’s sporting facilities and programmes. The 5K run/walk was launched on Wednesday at the school.
President of the Jamaica Chapter of the York Castle High School Alumni, Jennifer “Jenny Jenny” Small said the alumni wants to ensure the school is equipped to cater to the needs of the students. She said with York Castle being the top co-educational institution in St Ann, the aim is to ensure the school remains on top.
“We have never had a 5K and we are very very happy to have our Lasco icool water and, of course York Castle Alumni 5K — the first of its kind — because we have so many needs,” Small said.
“We want to make sure we have top-quality labs. That’s the only way we can stay competitive. That’s the only way we can make sure our children from St Ann, from St Mary, from Trelawny — as long as you come through the halls of York Castle, you walk through the walls of greatness,” she added.
The 6:30 am event which will have three categories — run, walk and wheelchair — will span Salem Beach, to Flavours Beach and then back to Salem Beach where there will be a party after.
At the recent launch, the alumni also handed over $1million to the school. This money was raised from the school’s last fun day, Funtastic Day, which was hosted by the alumni.
For the past two years, the alumni has been able to raise $1 million from the school’s fun day. However, Small said her team hopes to increase that amount in this school year and so the next staging will be strategically positioned in the school year to generate more support.
“When you have a school with such high quality the needs are there, but what is fantastic is that we have a passion (the alumni)…it is my passion as president of the YC alumni to continue to make sure that standards are held, to make sure that we are not in need. I was a student in need and I know that past students were a part of the lunch programme, in terms of making sure persons are able to attend school. All of this that we are putting together is to ensure that we don’t have students at York Castle High in need. And that’s not just physical need
but in terms of facilities,” Small added.
Principal of the institution Raymon Treasure said the gesture from the York Castle Alumni has been creating a significant impact at the institution.
“This is certainly a wonderful gesture from our past students; last year they made a similar contribution and that was used to improve our sporting facilities. This year we will be using this donation to improve our computer facilities,” he said regarding the $1 million that was handed over to the school.
He said the donation will be used to purchase about 25 computers which will be used to improve the delivery of the AUTOCAD programme at York Castle.
“Our past students continue to support the school improvement project here in big ways. Already we received about $1.5 million from the New York chapter to implement a solar project which will be launched next month. We continue to be grateful for what the past students are doing for York Castle; this is tremendous as far as our school improvement projects are concerned,” he said.
Principal Treasure said he is hoping the 5K event will bring in enough money to assist the school to construct a new classroom.
“We currently have about 280 sixth-formers. We are running out of space, so we now need to concentrate on putting up a block,” he said. He said the hope is to build one classroom at a time until there are approximately eight in total.
Treasure called on persons, including past students and parents, to support the event which will benefit students.
Nishon Davis, brand manager for Lasco icool and idrade, said Lasco was happy to be partnering with York Castle for the 5K event, because it is the first 5K event that the company will be sponsoring in St Ann.
The company will provide sponsorship of approximately $800,000, with $500,000 in cash and prizes and $300,000 in water and drink on the day.
Persons wishing to sign up for the event may do so up to October 5 at the school at Anglers Restaurant, and Neighbour Care Pharmacy in St Ann’s Bay, and Winners’ Book Store in Salem, Runaway Bay.
The cost for students is $500 while the cost for adults is $1200. For groups of 10 and more, the cost is $1000 per person. Service clubs and large corporate groups will also benefit from special rates. For more information persons may visit yorkcastlehighalumni.com.