Sydney Pagon past students give back
The academic staff at Sydney Pagon STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Academy will be more equipped to help students achieve their goal come September, the beginning of the new school year.
Last Saturday, a group of past students, led by Dr Stenneth Davis, donated 10 computers to the institution.
“The group decided that the need lies more in computers, based on the fact that the school is now centred around STEM,” said Dr Davis, who is also the principal of Baillieston Primary School in Clarendon.
Milbert George Miller, principal of Sydney Pagon, described the donation as a significant boost.
“I want to express my profound gratitude to the batch of 1997 for reaching out to us in this the 40th year,” Miller said after receiving the computers. “I want you to know the extent to which this was so critical ... we have that lab space,
and all the computers were outdated,” Miller said.
Miller said the school administration was worried about going into the new school year.
“We knew we had to do something. When we reached out to the batch and we heard, ‘we are going to do something, Mr Principal’, I was hopeful, and I was looking forward to it,” he added.
Approximately 1,000 students will benefit from the computers.
Jeffrey Wilson, who lives in England, said their group produced doctors, lawyers, principals, vice-principals, teachers and politicians, and will continue to help build the institution, founded in 1979 as Elim Agricultural School.
The group has already started a drive to raise $1 million within a year to help rebuild the school’s farm.
“We want to put our pockets where our mouths are, and certainly with the efforts I saw coming from the group, we will be able to raise a million for the farm next year,” he said.