by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Fri. Jan. 19, 2024
Saint Catherine Academy, situated on Marine Parade in Belize City, celebrated its 141st anniversary on Friday, January 19.
“It’s a big deal,” said Salome Tillett, principal of SCA. “I think it should be a birthday for Belize, because the Sisters of Mercy have contributed so much to the development of this nation. The sisters are elderly now, but, in their time, they worked across this nation [in] health centers, food clinics; they were teachers, [and] they were nurses at the hospital. They worked themselves to contribute to the development of women,” she added.
The all-girls Catholic secondary institution opened its doors on January 20, 1883, when a group of missionaries from the Sisters of Mercy Convent arrived from New Orleans, Louisiana, in the USA to provide education for girls in Belize.
From the very beginning, the mission of the Mercy Sisters was to educate females on how to read and write, and to encourage them to not confine themselves to traditional gender roles. Since they commenced their efforts, a vast number of young ladies have graduated from the school and have held some of the highest professional posts.
”We are rich in the love and pride in our students’ accomplishments. When I see the accomplishments of my students, I feel like it’s my children, and I feel so proud. It doesn’t have to be anything big; it could be living a simple life, or it could be a student being a trailblazer for Belize, whatever walk of life they take,” Tillett mentioned.
Over 500 students attend the institution annually, and Amandala also spoke to Elizabeth Coye, a fourth-form student, who noted that attending SCA is now a tradition within her family.
“My whole family went here, and you just hear all these great stories, and I realized when I was a young child, I was shy, so I wanted to come somewhere where I can open up and express myself … When I was younger, I would think I didn’t want to come to high school and come back and visit it; but when I came to SCA, it was just a completely different experience, and I began to love this school,” she said.
In celebrating 141 years in existence, Saint Catherine Academy has compiled a collection of prayers from teachers and students, which were translated into different languages and will be published in the upcoming weeks.