Commemorating 20th anniversary: SWESCO 2004-year group rehabilitates dilapidated Visual Art Centre

After successfully completing their education at the Swedru Secondary School (SWESCO) 20 years ago, the 2004-year group has rehabilitated the dilapidated Visual Art Centre of their alma mater to enhance teaching and learning.

Dubbed: “Legacy project”, the refurbishment of the visual art centre which was hitherto known as Art Shed, forms part of their contribution to the growth and development of their former school.

Previous state

Over the years, the facility used to be an art shed, which was used for practical lessons by students offering the visual arts programme.

Owing to the growing population of the female boarding students, management of the school were compelled to later convert it into a girls’ dormitory to accommodate more students in the school.

Fortunately, with support from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETfund), a new girls’ dormitory was constructed some few years ago, paving the way for the students to be relocated to the new dormitory.

After the relocation, the dilapidated state-of-the-art shed caught the attention of the 2004-year group, who resolved to mobilise funds to rehabilitate it as their legacy project in commemoration of their 20th anniversary celebration.

The refurbishment works which were done at a cost of GH¢71,983.70 included masonry works, the provision of a six-seater place of convenience, changing of window nets, new electrical installation, fixing of new ceiling, elaborate artworks and painting, among others.

The celebration of the 2004-year group’s 20th anniversary also coincided with the school’s Founder’s Day event instituted by management and held annually on September 21 to celebrate and honour the contributions of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah towards the establishment of the school in 1959.

Last Saturday, representatives of the year group held a series of activities in the school including an engagement with the students, a tour of the school, handing over of the legacy project, a thanksgiving service coupled with other social activities.

The historic visit to their alma mater was a nostalgic moment for them, as it made them reminisce their days in the school when they entered the institution as first year students in October 2001.

The event was on the theme: “Building a resilient educational institution in a challenging global economy: The gains and challenges of the SWESCO journey”.

Distress call

The President of the year group, Dennis Aboagye, said the gesture was in response to a distress call from the school’s management for the centre to be revamped to serve its intended purpose.

He said it was to say thank you to their former school for playing an instrumental role in their personal development, stressing, “this support is our generous contribution to the progress of SWESCO”.

He stated that although the group had already decided to support the school with a facility in commemoration of their anniversary, they had to abandon it and tackle the request made by the school.

He explained that with the roll-out of the new secondary education curriculum with emphasis on the acquisition of skills, the new centre would enable the students to develop their potential to contribute to the growth of the society.

Going forward, Mr Aboagye indicated that the group would adopt the centre and provide the needed support towards addressing all outstanding challenges facing the department.

Facelift

The Headmistress of the school, Golda Esi Andam, patted the year group on the back for giving a facelift to the facility, saying it would go a long way to boost the morale of the students and staff in the visual arts department.

On behalf of the management and board, she lauded the year group for remembering their former school after many years of completion and coming back to contribute to its growth and transformation for the benefit of current and future students.

She said: “I must say that this gesture by the 2004-year group will obviously make the visual arts programme more attractive to a lot of students”, adding, “the transformation of this centre will help improve academic work in the department”.

She said the refurbished centre had enough rooms, particularly two large halls, to enhance practical lessons or work and indicated that the refurbishment of the centre had added to the beautification of the school’s environment.

Ms Andam called on other year groups to also commemorate their anniversaries after leaving the school and use such occasions to tackle some of the challenges facing the school.

Engagement with students

Earlier, during a forum with the students, a member of the year group who is also a lecturer at the Akatsi College of Education, Yayra Amitor Kumatia, advised the students not to allow societal distractions to prevent them from achieving their aspirations.

She entreated them to be committed to their studies, as it was the surest way for them to get excellent results to pursue further studies at the tertiary level, adding, “it is through discipline and hard work that we are here to give back to our school”.

For his part, another member of the group and the Chief Executive Officer of Easy Processing, Reginald Osam, underscored the need for the students to acquire entrepreneurial skills so as to set up their own firms, instead of chasing non-existent white-collar jobs.

Writer’s email: gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh.