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'Progress amidst challenges at GC Foster'
BY KAYON RAYNOR Senior staff reporter
raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, March 22, 2009
DESPITE the burden of not having the necessary resources to upgrade facilities at the ageing GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sports during her five-year tenure, outgoing principal Yvonne Kong has enjoyed her stay at the institution.
KONG... the facility is almost 30 years old and needs upgrading
Kong, who's been on pre-retirement leave since January 1 this year and is scheduled to leave in August, sums-up her time at the 29-year-old teachers' college as 'Excellent'.
"I enjoyed every moment of it. The last two years... were very traumatic and stressful, but in all of that I enjoyed the job," added the veteran educator, who first entered the classroom in 1966.
"The obstacles that we have is that the facility is almost 30 years old and it really needs upgrading and we don't have the wherewithal to do it, so we have to do it little by little as the money comes along and by the time you fix one part... the previous one needs repairing again," she said, noting that the infrastructure at the facility established in 1980 from a grant by the Cuban government needs major upgrading.
"We need to replace some of our old equipment, but generally speaking we need to have dormitory space. upgraded dormitory facilities and some additional classrooms.
"Right now we're taking twice as much as we can hold and in some case three times as much because we have students (from) all across the island and we have to accommodate them and we do that the best way we can," Kong explained, adding that the college needs space to accommodate another 300 students.
Shortfalls aside, Kong - the fourth principal in the history of the school after James Carnegie, Dr Gloria Burke and Noel Monteith - told the Sunday Observer the college has grown significantly under her leadership and gained a presence internationally.
"We expanded the intake of students... We made it known that it was a teachers' college and not just a place to run up and down. We gained international recognition because we had to present papers at conferences all across the world about the college and we began taking students again from the Caribbean territory," added Kong, who is married with five children.
Kong, who served as principal of Alston High in Clarendon prior to joining GC Foster College in January 2004, says graduates of the Spanish Town-based institution continue to impact positively on the Jamaican society through sport.
"Ninety-five per cent of the schools from the prep through to the tertiary institutions have GC Foster College coaches in them... and although track & field is getting the prominence because of the... programme, they (coaches) are making an impact in all sports," she boasted, citing football, volleyball and cricket.
"Another very good feature of GC Foster College is that high school students come here, spend one year and get scholarships to go abroad without having to have the SAT scores because they get transfer credits to universities abroad," she revealed.
Kong, who earned her Master's degree in Leadership at City and Guilds in London, says her stint has been more like a labour of love despite being paid to run the institution.
"I specialised in mathematics and physical education as a teacher at college and I have done well at both, so there's a difference between doing your job in something that you love as against doing a job for the sake of a job," she said.
In addition to earning a diploma from (the then) Mico Teachers' College and her first degree in mathematics and education from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Kong also graduated with a degree in Physical Education, Recreation and Sports from the University of Zulia in Venezuela
BY KAYON RAYNOR Senior staff reporter
raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, March 22, 2009
DESPITE the burden of not having the necessary resources to upgrade facilities at the ageing GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sports during her five-year tenure, outgoing principal Yvonne Kong has enjoyed her stay at the institution.
KONG... the facility is almost 30 years old and needs upgrading
Kong, who's been on pre-retirement leave since January 1 this year and is scheduled to leave in August, sums-up her time at the 29-year-old teachers' college as 'Excellent'.
"I enjoyed every moment of it. The last two years... were very traumatic and stressful, but in all of that I enjoyed the job," added the veteran educator, who first entered the classroom in 1966.
"The obstacles that we have is that the facility is almost 30 years old and it really needs upgrading and we don't have the wherewithal to do it, so we have to do it little by little as the money comes along and by the time you fix one part... the previous one needs repairing again," she said, noting that the infrastructure at the facility established in 1980 from a grant by the Cuban government needs major upgrading.
"We need to replace some of our old equipment, but generally speaking we need to have dormitory space. upgraded dormitory facilities and some additional classrooms.
"Right now we're taking twice as much as we can hold and in some case three times as much because we have students (from) all across the island and we have to accommodate them and we do that the best way we can," Kong explained, adding that the college needs space to accommodate another 300 students.
Shortfalls aside, Kong - the fourth principal in the history of the school after James Carnegie, Dr Gloria Burke and Noel Monteith - told the Sunday Observer the college has grown significantly under her leadership and gained a presence internationally.
"We expanded the intake of students... We made it known that it was a teachers' college and not just a place to run up and down. We gained international recognition because we had to present papers at conferences all across the world about the college and we began taking students again from the Caribbean territory," added Kong, who is married with five children.
Kong, who served as principal of Alston High in Clarendon prior to joining GC Foster College in January 2004, says graduates of the Spanish Town-based institution continue to impact positively on the Jamaican society through sport.
"Ninety-five per cent of the schools from the prep through to the tertiary institutions have GC Foster College coaches in them... and although track & field is getting the prominence because of the... programme, they (coaches) are making an impact in all sports," she boasted, citing football, volleyball and cricket.
"Another very good feature of GC Foster College is that high school students come here, spend one year and get scholarships to go abroad without having to have the SAT scores because they get transfer credits to universities abroad," she revealed.
Kong, who earned her Master's degree in Leadership at City and Guilds in London, says her stint has been more like a labour of love despite being paid to run the institution.
"I specialised in mathematics and physical education as a teacher at college and I have done well at both, so there's a difference between doing your job in something that you love as against doing a job for the sake of a job," she said.
In addition to earning a diploma from (the then) Mico Teachers' College and her first degree in mathematics and education from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Kong also graduated with a degree in Physical Education, Recreation and Sports from the University of Zulia in Venezuela