Giving Back to St Joe - The Handover

.
Here's some quick photos from the donation handover and walkabout at St Joe this morning ... This is just to satisfy the impatient who are asking for the blog to be updated 30 seconds after the event. LOL

Anyway I'll be posting more stuff later today or tomorrow ...

We donated student desks and chairs,and teacher tables for 3 classrooms, plus a projector. The picture above shows the projector being handed over, in the presence of eight representatives from the Class of 1976. We also had a reporter from the Borneo Post in attendance.

Principal Mr Thomas Lau then brought us to each of the classes with new furniture and we spoke to the teacher and students.

We shook the hands of each and every student ...

Here we are in another classroom with the Prinicipal and one of the teachers, Ms Sandy Wong.

Of course, we had to test out the desks and chairs for ourselves ....

A shot outside the classes ...

And a final shot with the Old Boys Block in the background ..

Here's a BEFORE and AFTER look at one of the classrooms ...

This was a small but meaningful project. In a way, this is a project reflecting our three HOPEs. We hope our contribution of desks, chairs, tables and projector will make a small but positive difference to the learning environment of St Joe. We hope that other former students will also band together to make similar (hopefully BIGGER) contributions to their alma mater. Finally we hope that the government may also take note and lend us further support in this effort to boost the quality of education for Sarawak.


Item in Borneo Post (16 Sep 2010)

.

Giving Back to St Joe (Part 4)

Well guys, after several months we're finally getting to the last stage of our "Giving Back to St Joe" campaign ...  The official handover will be very soon.

Before we show you the new furniture, here's a reminder of what the class looked like before.

Now here are the photos of the new desks and chairs our donation made possible. A million thanks to Bob for all the hard work in coordinating this.

A closer shot of the label ...

Now for the teacher's table  ...

Bob decides to test drive the chair and desk ...

Another view of the desks and chairs ...

Another view of the classroom ...

Wow, what a difference !

Giving Back to St Joe (Part 3)

.
Here's an update on our donations from Bob Chew ...


"Hi all

1. Mark and I went to St Joe last week to confirm and pay for 105 units student desks and 3 teacher's tables. Choice of material, colour scheme and carpentry was done by SJS. The total for desks ( RM 7140 ) + tables ( RM 1500) = RM 8640.These desks and tables will be imprinted with " donated by Form 5 class of 1976".

2. We are now ordering 105 + 3 pippee brand plastic chairs to be sent to SJS . These will also bear the imprint "donated by Form 5 class of 1976".

3. All items will be delivered into the class ready for the new term on 14th Sept. The school break is from Sep 4th - 13th.
.
4. We will organise a handover ceremony, date to be advised, after putting all these in place. The plan is to have at least 3 reps each from Form 5 Sci, Arts1 and Arts2 to be there for handover. We will also invite all donors if they are in Kuching. I will liase with the school prinicpal.
Bye for now

Bob Chew"


Thanks Bob and Mark for all the efforts.  Will all those who haven't yet sent in their pledges please arrange to do so directly with Bob (lkcbob@tm.net.my).

.
LINKS

Here are links to previously posted information on our "Giving Back to St Joe" initiative.

27 May:   Revisiting the Library

12 June:   Giving Back to St Joe

3 July:     Giving Back to St Joe (continued)
.
10 Sept:   Giving Back to St Joe (Part 4)

15 Sept     The Handover

Giving Back to St Joe (continued)

.
On 1st July 2010, some of the guys had breakfast at Kwong Hup Cafe on Jalan Keretapi, Kuching.

A cheque of RM 1,500 was presented by Datuk JJ to Bob Chew, for the St Joe donation.

THANK YOU, Datuk JJ for your generosity!

Datuk JJ presents cheque to Bob, while Norbert, Mark and Sinos look on

Sorry guys, for general security reasons I think it's better not to show the other close-up picture of the cheque that you sent to me.

Thanks all for giving back to your alma mater.
.

Giving Back to St Joe

.
Bottomline: Pledges Needed
We've been discussing ways of giving back to St Joe for a while. Based on discussions that Bob Chew and I have had with the Principal and our review of various possible needs suggested, we propose a one-time sponsorship of new desks for students and teachers for 3 classrooms. This will impact 6 classes since these classes are used by morning and afternoon students.Total cost for this is around RM 8,500. I propose we aim for the auspicious figure of RM 8,888.

We currently have RM 5,000 left from our Grand Reunion funds. We need a further RM 3,888 and hope that you will agree that this is a meaningful way we can make a small contribution to our alma mater. We therefore hope you will be generous and pledge an amount (as small or as large as you like) towards making up this figure. Just make your pledge in the comments. We'll figure out the collection process later. We hope to be able to present our contribution to the Principal by July 2010.

Here's the latest status (updated daily):
.

Details now follow ...
.
Background
A few weeks ago, Bob and I called on St Joe's principal Mr Thomas Lau to explore some meaningful ways we could contribute to the continuing education of the new generation. We had an interesting chat and Mr Lau and assistant Raymond brought us on a little tour of the school grounds. You've already seen photos of the Library. Here are some shots from our old classrooms in the Old Boys Block.

Photo 1: One of the classes we studied in back in 1975 and 1976

Photo 2: Another view of the same class

Photo 3: Mr Lau shows the condition of the desks and chairs

Photo 4: The next classroom

Photo 5: Bob trying to show us he still remembers his Add Maths formulae

In deciding what form our donation takes, we are guided by the following principles:
(a)  the donation will be for something that helps in the education of the students,
(b)  it will be a once-off donation, rather than extended over a period which may be hard to manage,
(c)  it should be something that a sizeable number of students will actually make use of

After listening to the Principal on possible areas that would benefit from sponsorship, we have decided on sponsoring new desks for three classrooms (our old ones in 1976), namely
old 5Sc - now 2H and 5H
old 5A1 - now 2G and 5I
old 5A2 - now 2F and 4E

Student desks (103 units @ RM 68 each) = RM 7,004

Teacher's table (3 units @ RM 500 each) = RM 1,500

Other expenses for future repairs (and rounding up to an auspicious number :) = RM 384
.
Total needed = RM 8,888
 
We currently have RM 5,000 left from the Grand Reunion. So to top that up, I'd like to ask if any of the boys of 1976 would be willing to pledge some more (up to RM3,888) to bring this figure to an auspicious RM 8,888.
 
Just enter your pledge (your name and amount pledged) as a comment to this posting. We'll figure out how to collect the money from you later.  I'll also put up a running count of how much we have collected, updated daily. I'm sure I can count on your generosity. Thanks in advance.
.

Revisiting the Library

.
When was the last time you visited our St Joe Library? For me it was probably 1976 or 1977. Well, last week Bob Chew and I visited the school principal Mr Thomas Lau for a discussion on areas the Class of 1976 could give back to the school. During that visit, we were shown various parts of the school including the library. I thought some of you might be interested to see what the library looks like now, so I took some photos.

Well, here's the main entrance ...

After you enter, there's a large librarian desk area on the left ...

Then there are half a dozen or so rows of private study cubicles ...

A pair of common use computers sit in one corner ...

You then have to go through some glass doors to get to the second section ...

The book shelves looked very familiar. Looking more closely, I discovered that they were the very same shelves from the time of the 70s.

Towards the other end, there are some locked rooms, one of which contained several more computers for student use.

Walking through the library brought back many memories. This was a place that some of us spent many hours in, and got to know extremely well back in our day.

The place looks reasonably well maintained, but obviously more can be done to improve the collection of reference books, upgrade the computing tools and possibly enhance the physical furnishings.

"St Joe in the 70s" Puzzle

.
I've been trying out a new crossword puzzle generation software, and here's a little crossword to test whether you have been paying attention during your time at St Joe or on this blog ...

Anyway, try your skill at this. And as usual, numerous "no prizes" await the ones who get it all right !
.

A Winning Team in Any Colour

This gem of a photo came from Ibrahim Mokhsen, via ELAS. See who you can recognise. This is definitely a winning team ... irrespective of the colour (with apologies to artist Andy Warhol :-)

Enjoy ...

Giving Back

As many of you know, most of our blog postings have so far been of a relatively light vein. We try to locate and reconnect with our old friends. We explore our life interests, such as travel, food and hobbies. We try to recall events, people and places from our teenage years.

So one could say the theme for Year 1 of our blog was "Reconnection". The outcome was quite successful. We have linked more than 100 out of the cohort of 120.

For Year 2, I'd like to suggest that beyond reconnection, we focus on "Giving Back". By this I'm referring to giving back something to our alma mater, our hometown, our society, causes we care about, etc. Giving back doesn't have to be just monetary - we can contribute our skills, resources and ideas.

George and others have recently been discussing how we can giving something back to our old school. The teachers and staff of St Joe have provided all of us a strong foundation for life, and for this we should be most grateful. Let's see if we can do our bit to ensure that present and future generations continue to enjoy all the good things that St Joe can provide.

When some of us visited the school on the morning of 23rd December, the day of our Grand Reunion, we had the opportunity to walk around the premises. There have been a number of changes - new blocks, auditoriums and other facilities (e.g. the gym). The external areas looked quite neat and well-maintained, with one notable exception.

We were a little taken aback by the interiors of some of the classrooms. Here's one of the photos I took of a classroom in the Form 4 and 5 block, which shows some of the deterioration  ...

Some of the ideas we discussed included funding a renovation of certain classrooms, "adopting" a form perhaps, and getting involved in the upgrade of some of the school facilities. We should also take into consideration the learning needs of students in the digital age.

I'm sure you will contribute more ideas for us to discuss ...

Were you in Form 3B in 1974 ?

Here's another snapshot, retrieved and dusted from the old album of John Lee ...

Was it your class? What was the name of the teacher? Any memories to share?

Old Photos in the School Hall

Someone asked about the old photographs hanging beneath the name boards in the school hall (William Tan Auditorium). At our recent visit, I did try to take a picture of each of them, but some of the shots may not be very clear because of the somewhat reflective surface. Still, I think you can make out what each photo is about.

This was St Joe in the early 1930s. The new side wings were built in 1927.

I think you can read the caption on this one. Wah, back then it only cost $7,953 to build this block !

This one depicts Sports Day in the 1930s.

This is a rear view of St Joe in the mid 1950s. Obviously there were a few blocks added later.

This apparently was the entire population of St Joe in 1922. I counted about 180 .. what did you get?

These solemn looking chaps were the School Band. Their conductor was Fr Driessen (on the left). I sure hope their music was more cheerful than their expressions ;-)

I think you can read the caption on this one which shows the Mill Hill priests.

Another one on the Mill Hill priests.

This is the ORIGINAL St Joe School building, built in 1882.

This one was taken in 1927, soon after the new wings were completed.

In 1957, the main buildings are beginning to look like when we were there in the 70s.

The last two depict aerial shots of the old Cathedral, St Joe and St Teresa's Schools. They didn't have a "love bridge" back then, so I guess they just jaywalked across ;-)

I like this shot a lot. It shows the old and the new St Joseph's Cathedrals standing side by side. I'm sure the architects among us would have much to comment about the contrasting design styles.