flashbackfriday - NAPS Alumni https://www.napsalumni.com A Posse Ad Esse Tue, 30 Aug 2022 16:25:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.4 https://www.napsalumni.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/cropped-napsassociation-logo-white-transparent-32x32.png flashbackfriday - NAPS Alumni https://www.napsalumni.com 32 32 What was Naps like back in 1962? https://www.napsalumni.com/naps-in-62/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=naps-in-62 Fri, 26 Aug 2022 17:26:00 +0000 https://www.napsalumni.com/?p=2669 As Trinidad & Tobago celebrates 60 years of being an independent nation, we ask on this Independence edition of #FlashbackFriday… What was Naps like back in 1962? By this time, Naparima College was 63 years old and was under the leadership of the newly minted Principal, Revered James Seunarine. 680 students were enrolled, and infrastructure
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As Trinidad & Tobago celebrates 60 years of being an independent nation, we ask on this Independence edition of #FlashbackFriday…
What was Naps like back in 1962?
By this time, Naparima College was 63 years old and was under the leadership of the newly minted Principal, Revered James Seunarine. 680 students were enrolled, and infrastructure had already been modernised to what we know today. Academic excellence increased, sporting records continued to be broken, and a decade old football rivalry with Presentation College became personal. It seems some things never change.
Take some time to read this comprehensive list below to gain a better understanding of life at Naps in 1962:
  1. Students began entering Naparima College after sitting the Common Entrance Examinations.
  2. The retirement of James Sammy after 50 years of service.
  3. The College was in mourning after the passing of Edward T. Lute who retired as principal one year earlier.
  4. New members were added to the teaching staff: Jennifer Gregson (Mathematics), Jean Springer (Physics), Clyde DeBoug (Geography and French), Victor Cowan (Spanish and Sports), Edward Henry (Music) and Wylla Mulchansingh (Art).
  5. Music was introduced into the curriculum.
  6. The “Naparima College Choral Society” was inaugurated.
  7. Rosie K. Mohammed was the first girl in college history to win a full Science Certificate.
  8. Krishna Gooriesingh was the first student to attain a distinction in Health Sciences, a subject that was introduced into the curriculum a year prior.
  9. Twenty-One Full Certificates awarded with distinctions in Mathematics, English, Chemistry and Geography.
  10. Twenty Distinctions in the Cambridge School Certificate examinations in English Language, Literature, Geography, Elementary Mathematics and Health Sciences.
  11. Inter-form/Inter-class football was re-introduced – Class 3A won middle school while Class 2C won lower school.
  12. Naparima was defeated by Presentation College in both College League and Intercol football finals.
  13. Naparima defeated Presentation College – Chaguanas in the Junior Cricket finals
  14. Junior Intercol Team defeated Presentation College and won the Herde Shield for the first time.
  15. Carl McClashie broke the College 100-yard record in eleven seconds.
  16. Jerome Ramanth was awarded Best All-Round Student
  17. Roy Jagroopsingh was awarded Best All-Round Performer in Sports
  18. Clarence Harnanan was awarded the Prefect’s Prize in general proficiency.
  19. Lennox Boodoo was awarded the “A.R Sinanan” prize for most progressive student
  20. Grant House won the Inter-House Football Trophy
  21. Sammy House won the Inter-House Cricket Championship
  22. Flemington House became Sports Day Athletic Champions
  23. Walls House was awarded the “L. Jaggernauth” Shield for Inter-House All Round Proficiency
  24. Victor Albert became the Class A Table Tennis champion.
  25. Naparima College was the only school in the country to contribute to the United Nations “Freedom from Hunger Week”.
  26. The building of the Walls Pavilion by the then “Old Boys’ Association”
Be it our existence as a colony or when we gained the status of an independent nation, one fact remained the same, the spirit of Naps was alive and well. According to Rabindranath Maharaj, Assistant Chief Prefect of the Student Council:
“Naparima is better and its students are being taught not only to be responsible citizens, but also to identify themselves as proud Naparimans in an Independent Trinidad.”
Sources: The Olympian 1962, 1963.

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]]> First Female Islandwide Scholar was a NAPS Alumni https://www.napsalumni.com/first-female-islandwide-scholar-was-a-naps-alumni/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=first-female-islandwide-scholar-was-a-naps-alumni Sun, 17 Jul 2022 00:12:47 +0000 https://www.napsalumni.com/?p=2640 Did you know that the first female student to win an Islandwide Scholarship was from Naparima College? In today’s edition of #flashbackfriday we remember Journalist and News Editor, Kathleen Wilsa Smith (also known as Kathlyn Smith) Born in San Fernando on February 9th 1927, Kathleen first entered Naparima Girls High School in 1938, and then
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Did you know that the first female student to win an Islandwide Scholarship was from Naparima College? In today’s edition of #flashbackfriday we remember Journalist and News Editor, Kathleen Wilsa Smith (also known as Kathlyn Smith)
Born in San Fernando on February 9th 1927, Kathleen first entered Naparima Girls High School in 1938, and then the Higher School Certificate “HSC” form (now known as Sixth Form) of Naparima College in 1943 excelling in English, French and Geography. With aspirations to be a journalist, it wasn’t surprising in 1944 that she was part of the editorial committee in the first edition of The Olympian which was released in 1945.
In that same year, Kathleen broke the glass ceiling in Cambridge Examinations as the first Naparima student and the first girl to win an Islandwide Colonial Scholarship in Modern Studies. The news not only brought shock and joy to Naparima College, but also to the San Fernando Borough Corporation (now City Corporation) who expected rare achievements like this being attained at renowned prestigious schools located in “the North” of Trinidad. Beaming with pride and with much deserved fanfare, the Corporation in June 1946 awarded Kathleen who was now nicknamed the “Heroine of the South” the Borough Council Gold Medal where Naparima College was awarded the “Kathleen Smith Shield” to encourage continued competition and excellence.
Kathleen went on to study Arts at the University of Toronto, Canada with further studies at Oxford University in England. She then emigrated to the United States in 1954 where she married an American, Ross Russell. In 1963, she became the medical writer, arts writer and critic for the Times Advocate Newspapers in San Diego, California. After twenty years at the Advocate, Kathleen returned to Trinidad in 1983 and worked as an Editor for the Trinidad Express Newspapers. In 1985, she returned to California but this time, as a reporter for the San Diego Union Tribune. Kathleen lived a rich life until her untimely passing in October 1987 at the age of 60. She is survived by her two children Allan and Maureen.
The 1940’s was a time when females attaining secondary school education was becoming a new normal. Kathleen showed girls that attending University and pursuing a career in your dream profession were achievable goals. We are proud that Kathleen was able to achieve her dreams and we are eternally grateful for her contributions at Naparima College and to the community and country at large.
The Association would like to especially thank Kathleen’s sister, Serena Smith for assisting in this contribution.
Sources: The Olympian 1945, 1946 & 1947.

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