January 6, 2012

Glitz and Glamour for CIC’s 10^th All-Inclusive Carnival Fete

Last year, two highly-respected newspaper feature editors rated Fete With The Saints as one of the top Carnival fetes for the 2011 season and termed it a ‘must’ for 2012. That rating was based on factors such as ambience, the range and quality of cuisine, the music and of course, value for money.

Come Saturday January 28th, the St. Mary’s College Past Students’ Union, the organisation that hosts Fete With The Saints annually, intends to surpass the heights achieved last year. This is because this year is the tenth anniversary of the event. To mark this auspicious occasion, the organizing committee is pulling out all the stops to ensure that patrons have a most pleasurable and unforgettable experience.

In terms of music, the line-up that provided the scintillating music last year has been retained. Patrons will dance to the sounds of Kes the Band, led by Kees Dieffenthaller, the reigning Groovy Soca Monarch, who will obviously be keen to show his fans that he has what it takes to be crowned monarch for a second successive year. Popular crossover band Dil-e-Nadan, fronted by Raymond Ramnarine, will also be showing off their wares to prove that they are the best in their category. Those two bands will match notes with perennial crowd pleaser, Roy Cape All Stars that will feature a powerful trio of front-line singers in the experienced Blaxx, the sultry Rita Jones and the fast-rising Ricardo Drue, a former lead singer with Imij & Co. In order to ensure non-stop party music, the popular DJ Scooby will be pumping the latest soca hits in between the performances of the three bands. There will also be performances by the more popular soca artistes.

Providing value for money to its patrons has always been an objective that the organizing committee of Fete With The Saints has been able to achieve. Thus it is that while the admission fee for a number of other All-Inclusive carnival fetes has climbed substantially this year, the Saints past students have increased their admission fee by just $25, to six hundred and twenty-five dollars.

Patrons attending Fete With The Saints will again be assured a totally enjoyable evening, with pleasant company, mouth-watering cuisine, great music, a fully stocked bar with premium drinks and non-alcoholic drinks, a jump-up to pan round-de-neck music to end the fete and of course, security for their vehicles. Attention is being paid to every detail, including the transformation of the CIC compound into a carnival wonderland that will be most pleasing to the eye. Towards this end, the organizing committee has engaged the services of Ricardo Gomez who is fast emerging as one of the most sought after decorators in T&T. All of this gives testimony to the famous tag line for the event: “Great Music + Nice People = CIC All-Inclusive Fete”. This year, because of the 10^th anniversary, there will be that much extra to bring out the glitz and glamour guaranteed to wow patrons.

In addition, patrons will have the satisfaction of knowing that the full proceeds of this and all other fund-raising events hosted by the CIC past students will be used to fund much-needed projects for the benefit of present and future students of the college. Within recent years, the past students have funded major projects such as the purchase of a school bus, the establishment of a second computer lab and a state of the art foreign languages lab that will be commissioned this month.

Tickets are available from Sedley Joseph at the Past Students’ office (624-8468), Mark Bishop (680-1087), Brevard Nelson (683-8188), Richard Joseph (681-5673), Joe Hadad (680-3650), Enrico Rajah at Trini Revellers’ Mas Camp (745-4391) and in South Trinidad from Felix Montenegro (684-5839) and Jean Boucaud (475-5293).

	Students of St. Mary’s College are now the beneficiaries of a state of the art foreign languages lab, courtesy of the college’s Past Students’ Union. The lab which cost approximately a quarter of a million dollars, was largely funded from the proceeds of Dining With The Saints, a culinary extravaganza hosted by the CIC past students last June.
Fr. Mendes thanking Mr. Bishop, while Nestor Lambert, chairman of the 'Dining With The Saints Committee' looks on, while students are at their consoles.

Earlier this week, the lab was commissioned by Principal, Fr. Ronald Mendes, C.S.Sp., Mrs. Michelle Mohammed, Head of the Foreign Languages department and officials of the Past Students’ Union. At the simple commissioning ceremony, Fr Mendes expressed deep gratitude to the Past Students’ Union for the significant contributions that they have been making to the college over the years, both financial and non-financial. Among the projects funded in the past three years by the Past Students’ Union were the purchase of a 30-seater school bus and the establishment of a second computer laboratory.

In thanking the past students for funding the laboratory, Mrs. Mohammed commented that use of the lab will provide an environment that encourages learning and provides the language teachers with the tools that they need to better educate students of the College.

She went on to say that a Languages lab provides all students, no matter where they are seated in the room, equal opportunity to hear the instructor and to be heard by the instructor. Students can view or listen to lesson material at their own pace for their own comfort or follow along with their instructor in a tutorial. Each workstation is equipped with individual headsets so that students do not disturb each other and the teacher has the capability of conversing with an individual student or the entire class through their respective consoles. The teacher can also monitor and control what is being done by each student at his console and give immediate feedback. None of the lesson material is mis-heard, due to the direct nature of the sound transmission heard by each student via his individual headset. Testing, with instant feedback is also facilitated in this fully interactive lab.

The Languages lab is equipped with thirty-eight (38) netbook computers wirelessly linked to a multimedia server that hosts a variety of Spanish and French audio-video content. The typical Languages lab uses dedicated audio equipment to share files. However, by using computers and a high speed wireless network, St. Mary’s College has taken the Languages lab concept a step further - allowing it to easily adapt to the future needs of students and teachers. Each workstation is also equipped with internet access, thereby allowing students to access hundreds of language resources.

The use of a Languages lab learning system also encourages students to talk freely and lose their inhibitions when talking in front of their peers. It tends to make students more anonymous, thus overcoming any shyness that they may have.

Mr. Mark Bishop, President of the Past Students’ Union, commented that the Union is committed to the support of St. Mary’s College, its students and teachers and will continue to conceptualise and execute initiatives towards this goal.