Northeastern alumni hosts fun day

In yet another attempt to build camaraderie and consensus, Northeastern College Interim Alumni Association hosts a Throw Back Lime on Sunday at the school’s compound, Ojoe Road, Sangre Grande.

Billed as a fun day, the event, expected to run from 1 pm to 6 pm, is meant to bridge the gap between the school’s alumni and its current crop of students.

It is expected to feature a range of activities, including an all fours tournament, cricket and a small goal football competition. Fun activities for the children of past students also have been included in the event.

The Graham Trace school, established in 1961, has been attempting to institute a full-fledged alumni association.

And Sunday’s event is expected a further step in making that thrust a reality.

“It is just a relaxing, casual event to get past and present students together,” said Diedre Rahaman, a member of the organising committee.

“It is perhaps the first time that all of the year groups will be included in one event as opposed to separate years doing their own thing. So, it is about reconnecting with the school and each other since we launched the interim alumni association in March.”

In a statement issued to alumni, interim president Dale Scobie said the executive has been working assiduously to lay the foundation for a fully constituted alumni organisation.

He said since the committee’s inaugural meeting on March 5, the association was now a legal entity – The Northeastern College Alumni Association (NECAA).

Scobie, an attorney, said the school, known as the “Mecca of education in the East,” also had developed a mailing list of at least 200 “active” alumni.

He said since the inaugural meeting, there have been several positive developments at the school.

“We have contributed to a facelift of the college auditorium in time for the last graduation ceremony, and for the first time in the 56-year-old history of Northeastern College, the Alumni Association was represented at the college’s end of year 2017 graduation exercises,” Scobie said in the statement.

The school also has created an official Facebook page on which all official association matters are posted, he said.

Scobie said during that time, the committee also completed the task of compiling a proposed draft constitution, copies of which are expected to be distributed to Northeasterners at Sunday’s Throw Back Lime.

“We plan to have two social events for the purpose of attracting and mobilising our alumni population before our first general business meeting proposed for early March 2018 when we plan to formally adopt our constitution and conduct the first general elections of our association,” he said.

Scobie said the committee’s final social event is scheduled to take place in December with the staging of a major fund-raising venture “to ensure that our new association and executive begins the first official term in a financially sound position.”