“Sons of SMA” launches scholarships in honour of deceased teachers

The Sons of St. Mary’s Academy (Sons of SMA) is a grassroots organization established as a 501(c) 3 nonprofit in Houston, Texas in March 2016 with the primary purpose of providing high school scholarships to two students attending the Academy. The memoriam scholarships are in honor of two deceased teachers that profoundly affected many. One in honor of former Vice Principal Adrian “Reds” Durand – also a brilliant math and physics teacher for almost 15 years. The second is in honor of Mr. Cuthbert Elwin — former Principal and basketball coach at the Academy with a 30-year career as an English and Geography teacher.

Two need-based scholarships, estimated at E.C. $2000 each, will cover text books, tuition/fees and uniforms annually for the student’s tenure at SMA starting with the 2016-2017 school year. In order to qualify for the scholarship, the student has to pass the common entrance exam, be accepted to SMA, be active in the community and provide two reference letters. Renewal of the scholarship requires the student to earn at least second honors, continued community activism, and remain in good ethical standing. More information about the scholarship application process is available at www.sonsofsma.org.

A group of local alumni will serve as the ground zero-arm of the foundation and spearhead fundraising efforts and needed assistance to SMA. The local group will also serve as mentors to the scholarship recipients to help ensure their success. Moreover, the Sons of SMA foundation seeks to provide stewardship by engaging the ‘Old Boys’ network, Friends of SOSMA and corporate partners to maintain and enhance SMA’s institutional facilities in an effort to further the exemplary academic, sports and societal developmental experiences of SMA students and teachers. Recently, former legendary principal Br. Egbert Germain gave an interview supporting and endorsing the Sons of SMA initiative and can be viewed on youtube at https://youtu.be/pN2ANkYL-XM.

From its inception in 1932, the Saint Mary’s Academy (SMA) has been educating, developing and preparing young men in Dominica to lead nationally, in the Caribbean and around the world. Today, many of these men- both young and old, hold positions as doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors, business men, economists, bankers, musicians, and architects to name a few. SMA graduates will profess proudly that they owe much of their success to the great teachers who roamed the hallways, classrooms, basketball court, labs, and agriculture plot that comprise the compound. Honoring these two teachers by establishing scholarships to two deserving students annually, is one way of paying tribute and giving back to both SMA and Dominica as a whole.

As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s persistent and most urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’”. We urge all alumni, friends and the private sector to donate to this worthy cause by visiting the website http://sonsofsma.org/donate-give/ and donating today. There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up – let us start by lifting these deserving students.