All Saints Alumni Donates Equipment and Scholarships to His Alma Mater
This morning, All Saints School in Belize City received a generous contribution of over ten thousand dollars from a benefactor who was once a student at the primary school. The donation of digital equipment and financial assistance for deserving students is part of an initiative to modernize and improve the existing courses being offered. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Giving back, as a means of creating opportunities for young learners to progress, is an important part of building and strengthening society. For Anwar Barrow, a past student of All Saints School, assisting with scholarships and other resources ensures that the best academic experience is afforded to the children enrolled at his alma mater.
Anwar Barrow
Anwar Barrow, Donor
“I’ve been supporting All Saints for a while now. I went to school there and I have a lot of fond memories and experiences and also my family, particularly on my mother’s side, has had long involvement with the school and the church. And so I see it fitting, given where we are as a society, to give back and that is one of the places that I really try to support.”
This morning, a donation of electronic equipment, as well as scholarships, was handed over to the school. Collin Estrada is the principal. He has been working closely with Barrow to digitalize several programs being offered at All Saints.
Collin Estrada
Collin Estrada, Principal, All Saints School
“This has been one donation in a series of many, okay. We’re doing the digitalization of All Saints and so, with that we got four projectors from him and then we also got some scholarships from him. So to date, apart from the Ministry of Education, he’s one of the biggest donors to All Saints.”
Isani Cayetano
“What does this mean to the school, to have someone who has gone through these classrooms, established himself in Belizean society and is now looking back, in terms of being able to contribute to his alma mater?”
Collin Estrada
“Well, it’s like what I said, it’s in serving the nation and serving our people because he’s one of us and the students can be able to relate that how he was already one of us and he is now looking back, giving back to the community that he is a part of.”
The idea for the donation came a few weeks ago when Principal Estrada reached out to Barrow with a plan to improve teaching and learning at the school.
Anwar Barrow
“He approached me a few weeks ago about wanting to put, I think it’s eleven or fourteen projectors throughout the school so that the kids can have better access to electronic content. And so, I said that I was more than willing to help. [I] donated four of them and then also, it’s back to school time, [I] funded fifteen scholarships for deserving students which I have been doing over the years and I know a lot of other people try to do and help out.”
Today’s gift signifies a considerable leap forward for All Saints School. The pandemic illustrated to the administration that students do indeed learn through various means, including digital technology.
Collin Estrada
“What it means is that technologically, we are moving forward as an institution. During COVID, we learned that there are various types of learners and the students they were on the devices. So it is not just throwing away what we have learned through COVID but also enhancing it to be able to meet the demand of our student population so that at the end of the day education becomes more fun-filled for the students and for the teachers.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
