Huge Thanksgiving
Mass Ushers in New Academic Year
-Overall Best GCE A Level Commercial
Student Honoured
By
Francis Ekongang Nzante
The Saint Michael’s Academy of Science and Arts Bamenda has organised a ground breaking thanksgiving mass to usher in the 2021-2022 Academic Year. During this colourful service, thanks were heaped on the Almighty for the very good results registered in the previous Academic Year.
The overall best student at the Cameroon General Certificate of Education A Level Commercial of the 2020-2021 Academic year who came from the institution received a prize from the school authorities. This student is part of the success story that pushed authorities of SMASA to organise a thanksgiving mass during which prizes were given to the most performant students. The best 8th overall student on the National Triangle also came from the same institution. Three students on the National Honour Roll came from this same institution which is slowly but surely making its name heard in private secondary education in the country.
In a
touching homily dished out by Rev. Father Siani Edward of the All Saints
Catholic Parish, Bayele, Bamenda, the students were enjoined to be constantly upgrading
themselves. The eloquent priest said “if you are in Saint Michael and your only
aim is to pass your exams then I advise that after this you should go to the
office and withdraw.” The priest said the aim of coming to Saint Michael should
not only be to pass exams.
“Saint
Michael is preparing you for life. It is a partnership because at home, parents
are supposed to build the foundation. The teachers will build the walls and
when you grow up you will provide the roof but if the teachers don’t put the
walls on a solid foundation then the roof will not stand. So whether you become
a Lawyer, a Medical Doctor, a priest or a Reverend Sister tomorrow, if you
didn’t have a good foundation and the teachers did not build strong walls, you
will not make it. So you have to cooperate with your teachers” Rev Father Siani
appealed to the throngs of students who turned out for the occasion.
Referring
to the first reading of the day he said once you have understanding then comes
wisdom adding that once you have wisdom then every other thing is yours since
wisdom is a personification of the Holy Spirit.
Speaking
to the dominantly student audience Reverend Father Siani said considering the circumstances
at the school today, if any student had less than 13 on 20 in average then the
student in question was not only dull but stupid as well. Hear him: “I know
pedagogues will like to call them Slow Learners but they are not dull and they
are not slow. They are stupid. You have everything you need. You have a
collection of some of the best teachers from Catholic Schools in the Arch
Diocese of Bamenda. If the Sacred Hearts and the Our Lady of Lourdes are having
a hundred percent then why can’t you? It is the same teachers that are making
it happen.”
Prescribing
solutions to solve stupidity he called on students to always do the assignment
of the day before going to sleep. Secondly, he called on them to be avid
readers. “To be a competitor in the job market you are supposed to have at
least a Bachelor degree and now is the time you have to build that foundation.”
Turning
to the teachers, he drew their attention to the Second Bible Reading of the day
which talked about each and everyone having his or her own talent. In this
vein, he discouraged rivalry. “There should be no rivalry. If you copy the
system of the country in which you are you will fail. It is the worse system
not only in Sub Saharan Africa but in the world.” He called on the teachers to
make the students to be fruitful when they leave school explaining that they
should be useful in the communities in which they found themselves.
Dr Joseph Lon, a member of the Board of Trustees of the institution said the concept of SMASA was hatched some years back with the sole aim being the transformation of the Educational Scenario in the area. He said since it’s creation the school had been increasingly successful with each passing year.
“For some years now each time we pay tribute to the Almighty and we instituted what has come to be baptized as Saint Michael’s Day. It is a day in which we come together as family; students, teachers, parents, founding fathers and a host of clergymen to thank God and ask for more blessings. ...There are two things we emphasize on here. Firstly we thank God for the brilliant results we had last year. We have students here who were on the Honour Roll... especially in the Commercial Section. We want to thank God for a very successful last year and to ask for his blessings in this Academic year.”
Dr
Joseph Lon explained that though SMASA was not a Catholic institution they
adopted the name because they believed in Saint Michael the fighter who’ve been
fighting their battles for them.
The
Principal of SMASA Mr Ndzefon Gabriel said “today we were begging God to
continue to give us the wisdom to manage the ship that he has placed under our
guidance. It was a hectic day and we can call it Saint Michael’s Day because
our institution is Saint Michael. I was impressed with the discipline of the
students today and the participation was enormous. I was happy with the
teachers for their collaboration and everybody who came. We had wonderful
results. We had three outstanding students in the whole nation so you can
imagine how we struggled. The best student in the whole country in the GCE
Advanced Level came from Saint Michael with 7 A's and a B. The 8th
student also came from here with 5 A's and 3 B's. Three of them came
in the Honour Roll and I think we are a proud institution.”
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