My Junior Sec experience

When a brand new school was built a stone’s throw from our home, my mother, being a single parent and a very practical person, did not hesitate to put it down as my first choice for the Common Entrance examination.

The talk at the time was that the school would be equipped with stuff that other schools could only dream of. Furthermore, my mother could not help but capitalise on the idea, that the school being operated on a shift system would allow me the time to help her with her catering business for half of the day. What did I know? Except that I was going on an adventure, an adventure which at the time I didn’t know, I would encounter many characters and capture several opportunities — an experience that would shape the course of my destiny. The most wonderful feeling for me as a Junior Sec student was the feeling of abandon. Learning was fun. We went from English in the northern block to the pigpen at the eastern end of the school; from baking rock buns on the third floor of the southern building to dramatising skits in the Spanish class in the middle block; from jumping over bucks and somersaulting on the western end to the quiet and calm of the centralised library.

It was no lie, that the school had stuff other schools didn’t have. But more than the equipment were the nature and character of the folks I met. Never a dull moment could epitomise my three-year stay. There was always drama — so many stories in the naked city, as the saying goes. And when we were not laughing at the odd behaviour of some, we were quaking at what might be our punishment for some mess others got us into. Together with Neptune and Glenda I began my debating career; “Be it resolved that a decent standard of living is within the reach of the people of Trinidad and Tobago” was the topic and I really didn’t know how or why I was selected to represent the school. But like everything else, I took it in stride. When I wasn’t debating, I was playing netball or somewhere on the field or track, or cooking up a storm, or ushering at some function and there was always so many others engaged in similar activities. And even with a packed schedule, I also had the time to experience my first infatuation — a very foolish one, for the guy I liked couldn’t stand the best bone in my body, yet I was still goggle-eyed over him.

So what’s new? What’s new is the fact that I didn’t know I was a Junior Sec student until the day I set foot into a so-called “prestigious” school to complete my fourth and fifth year of schooling. The Junior Sec class was hurriedly ushered into what looked like a barbwire corridor classroom on the first floor of a building, on the farthest end of the school. We were told that we were not so bright, were ill disciplined, and ewretreated as though we had leprosy. Pat, Leon and the rest of the “bad boys Junior Sec crew” wouldn’t stand for it. Before long, they had us gather up our belongings and quietly march to the principal’s office and seated on the carpet with the air condition humming in the background. Their mission was to get us a decent classroom, and until then we had to stay put. Did I say “never a dull moment?” Even after we left the Junior Sec building we carried with us a sense of fairness. We did get a decent classroom — next to sixth form on the balcony in the auditorium. It was no surprise that after my fifth year I did the valedictory speech on behalf of the Junior Sec class, but ironically that two years later I was doing that very speech for the students of that “prestigious” school while capping the school’s highest honour, for I carried to that school my love for sports, music and drama. Junior Sec would always be a happy memory for me. I don’t believe I will ever have an experience that is as simple, humble and fulfilling as this one. It was here that I accepted people as people. It was here that I developed an earthiness and inner hardiness for life and it was here that I learnt to laugh at human frailties. It is my Junior Sec experience which inspired me to write this poem: