SAN­DRA L BLOOD

blood­l­sandy@gmail.com

Es­tab­lished in 1969, St Xavier’s Pri­vate School is nes­tled on plush green ter­rain on Rich­mond Street in St Joseph, guid­ed by its mot­to: Par Ar­d­ua, Ad As­tra: With hard work we shall reach the stars.

Prin­ci­pal Sis­ter Ivy Pacheco is said to be pas­sion­ate about her staff’s well-be­ing, her stu­dents’ pre­pared­ness to help cre­ate a big­ger, bet­ter world, par­ents’ pro­duc­tive part­ner­ship, and the sound­ness of the school.

In en­sur­ing the school main­tains its in­tegri­ty and moves to­wards mod­erni­sa­tion and ro­bust­ness, she em­braces a se­ries of strate­gies. Among its up­grades was the com­put­er room last year, and this year, at­ten­tion is be­ing placed on the li­brary, which, while op­er­a­tional, re­quires struc­tur­al and tech­ni­cal at­ten­tion.

This up­grade is be­ing made pos­si­ble by Team A+, a ser­vice-dri­ven brand es­tab­lished by two-time Road March win­ner and so­ca artiste Shur­wayne Win­ches­ter, to sup­port schools across Trinidad and To­ba­go (T&T). The goal is to en­hance the li­brary in a man­ner that proves more use­ful and in­spir­ing for the chil­dren.

On June 6, at their fourth an­nu­al Jazz & So­ca in The Vine­yard fundrais­er, el­e­gance will meet en­er­gy at the food-in­clu­sive, cool­er event from 5–10 pm at the school’s com­pound. There will be safe park­ing; lawn chairs are al­so al­lowed; per­son­al spaces can be carved out; and a well-stocked bar awaits — all for a good cause.

To de­liv­er sweet jazz, groovy so­ca and melo­di­ous in­stru­men­ta­tion are Vaugh­nette Big­ford, Ter­ri Lyons, Tony Paul, Nisa, De­stra Gar­cia, who re­places pre­vi­ous­ly sched­uled Free­town Col­lec­tive, and Win­ches­ter and his band Y.O.U.

“I’m pleased to lend my voice to an event that us­es mu­sic to sup­port chil­dren’s ed­u­ca­tion, and hap­py to be part of The Vine­yard be­cause it’s more than a show, it’s mu­sic help­ing to sup­port chil­dren and im­prove a space where they can learn, read, re­search and dream big­ger…,” stat­ed Gar­cia, while Win­ches­ter said he’s al­ways had a de­sire to help from the heart.

“Team A+ seeks to as­sist ed­u­ca­tion­al fa­cil­i­ties with prac­ti­cal tools and up­grades that can im­prove the learn­ing ex­pe­ri­ence for stu­dents. Guid­ed by the mot­to, ‘be­ing of ser­vice for a pos­i­tive change’, Team A+ works di­rect­ly with schools to iden­ti­fy needs, raise funds and stay in­volved un­til the promised work is com­plet­ed. It’s about as­sist­ing ed­u­ca­tion­al fa­cil­i­ties in get­ting the tools and sup­port they need, which al­so re­quires the strength of par­ents, school ad­min­is­tra­tors and the wider com­mu­ni­ty,” Win­ches­ter ex­plained. “When every­body plays their part, chil­dren ben­e­fit.”

“Our role does not stop when the event fin­ish­es. We work with the school, help plan and ex­e­cute the fundrais­er, raise the funds, and then stay with the process to en­sure what was promised is well ex­e­cut­ed. This up­com­ing fundrais­er mir­rors that com­mit­ment.”

“Ed­u­ca­tion re­mains one of the most im­por­tant in­vest­ments a com­mu­ni­ty can make.”

Win­ches­ter on li­brary: “It’s more than books on shelves. It’s a place where chil­dren can dis­cov­er ideas, build con­fi­dence, read, re­search and imag­ine more for them­selves.

“If we can use mu­sic and com­mu­ni­ty sup­port to help im­prove that space, then that is some­thing worth be­ing part of.”