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Sunday, July 6, 2025

Creating meaningful memories­­–SAGHS Class of 1980 – The Reunion

by

Women Empowerment Magazine
665 days ago
20230910

What class re­union in­volves a school tour, a din­ner par­ty, a parang lime in Au­gust, a vis­it to the prin­ci­pal and a con­tri­bu­tion to the school? That’s the way St Au­gus­tine Girls’ High School Class of 1980 chose to cel­e­brate their first ever re­union in Au­gust.

These ‘daugh­ters’ of SAGHS host­ed an en­tire week of ac­tiv­i­ties, in­clud­ing a vis­it with their much-loved prin­ci­pal par ex­cel­lence, Dr An­na Ma­hase. This is the lega­cy of SAGHS. Their stu­dents don’t just dream big, they make it hap­pen!

In 2018, two for­mer SAGHS girls - Shirley, a teacher in New York and Sherene, a med­ical doc­tor in Trinidad - got to­geth­er for a lime. The idea of a class re­union was born. The event would be held in 2020 to cel­e­brate 40 years since grad­u­a­tion.

Armed with a sense of pur­pose, they formed a com­mit­tee and start­ed lo­cat­ing #plaid­sis­ters all around the world. Plans were made but then COVID-19 ar­rived. Down but not de­feat­ed, the com­mit­tee wait­ed for three years be­fore se­lect­ing the new date - Au­gust 2023.

Vis­it­ing Dr An­na Ma­hase

The class of 1980 en­sured that part of the re­union was a vis­it to their much-loved prin­ci­pal, “Aun­ty An­na”. Dr Ma­hase has al­ways been on a mis­sion be­yond self. She has shaped per­cep­tions about strong, fo­cused, in­tel­li­gent women. This was es­pe­cial­ly ev­i­dent in her mes­sage to the class.

“I am very proud of what you have done in your ca­reers, in your mar­riages, in your fam­i­lies. You could not have done it any oth­er way, oth­er than get­ting the back­ground from SAGHS. And I will al­ways be your Aun­ty An­na.”

This feel­ing of re­spect and love goes both ways.

An­gela com­ment­ed: “Re­unit­ing with her as an adult - I was in awe of her sense of self, her pride in her ac­com­plish­ments and her sharp hu­mour.”

Joy, a teacher, said: “Hav­ing worked with sev­er­al prin­ci­pals over the decades I can cer­tain­ly say that no one comes close in fair­ness and com­pas­sion. She is a true ex­em­plar to the vo­ca­tion.”

In­grid de­scribed her as “a woman of great char­ac­ter and per­son­al­i­ty, who in­stilled re­spect in all of us. Lead­ing by ex­am­ple she was al­ways well dressed and groomed. A strong and car­ing hu­man be­ing who will al­ways be loved!”

Caryl spoke ad­mir­ing­ly of her com­mand­ing pres­ence which in­spired re­spect so many years ago and still does to­day.

“I learnt what char­ac­ter re­al­ly meant when Ms Ma­hase told us, ‘Cheer loud­ly but nev­er boo.  It brings down a fel­low hu­man be­ing’.” 

And fi­nal­ly, Jan­ice voiced the col­lec­tive feel­ings of the group when she said: “A big ‘Thank You’ to Aun­ty An­na for her in­spi­ra­tion, dis­ci­pline and the val­ues in­stilled in­to every one of her stu­dents. Know­ing to­day that she is proud of us and will al­ways be our guid­ing star.”

Re­con­nect­ing with a sense of pur­pose

Re­union week kicked off on Fri­day Au­gust 11 with a high­ly an­tic­i­pat­ed vis­it back to the hal­lowed halls of SAGHS. The old au­di­to­ri­um where stu­dents met for prayer every day, was now air-con­di­tioned and sev­er­al ar­eas up­grad­ed with spe­cial at­ten­tion to the li­brary and the Sci­ence wing. Re­gard­less of all the amaz­ing im­prove­ments, there was one un­de­ni­able fact - sit­ting at their desks in their for­mer class­rooms, they felt as if time stood still.

Sat­ur­day Au­gust 12 was the for­mal din­ner par­ty where 32 for­mer SAGHS girls re­unit­ed, many for the first time in 43 years. Friend­ships re-sparked in­stant­ly. The event start­ed with a prayer; a habit ac­quired from dai­ly as­sem­bly back in school days.

The re­union has sparked a new light in the hearts and minds of the for­mer stu­dents.

An­gela who flew in from the US for the event, said it all: “Re­con­nect­ing with my SAGHS sis­ters made me re­al­ize that a big part of my life had been miss­ing. The ma­tu­ri­ty, com­pas­sion, re­spect, hu­mour, in­tel­li­gence, and love that I en­coun­tered, has filled me with light!”

Sub­mit­ted by Class of 1980


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