Sascha Wil­son

Stu­dents, par­ents and staff of Vista­bel­la Pres­by­ter­ian School (VPS) par­tic­i­pat­ed in the school’s walkathon through the streets of San Fer­nan­do yes­ter­day.

The theme, Bet­ter Days are Com­ing, was cho­sen in ho­n­our of the late ca­lyp­son­ian Dr Leroy “Black Stal­in” Cal­liste.

The par­tic­i­pants proud­ly car­ried plac­ards pro­mot­ing pos­i­tive mes­sages.

Ex­plain­ing why they de­cid­ed on that theme, prin­ci­pal Cur­tis Din­di­al said, “Bet­ter days are com­ing for our school, for our stu­dents. As we all know, the stu­dents are the fu­ture and what we do to­day al­ways dic­tates what hap­pens in the fu­ture.

“So, to­day, we have our chil­dren pro­mot­ing plac­ards they have de­signed on our theme Bet­ter Days Are Com­ing, ac­cord­ing to our hous­es. We have hous­es with plac­ards por­tray­ing uni­ty, seeds of love, pre­serv­ing our nat­ur­al en­vi­ron­ment, pro­mot­ing health­i­er lifestyles and al­so ed­u­cate to el­e­vate, so when we pro­mote these themes to­day, we are hop­ing that our stu­dents who are the fu­ture of Trinidad and To­ba­go im­prove our lifestyles and liv­ing in Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

He said the school was al­so pro­mot­ing ca­lyp­so­ni­ans and his­to­ri­ans.

“Black Stal­in is a part of San Fer­nan­do, born and bred right here on our soil in San Fer­nan­do, so it is fit­ting to pay trib­ute to him al­so to­day by us­ing his song Bet­ter Days Are Com­ing.”

Par­ent Sup­port Group pres­i­dent Paula Top­pin mean­while lament­ed over the crime sit­u­a­tion in the coun­try.

“This walk is to show the bet­ter­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go through the VPS school, Vista­bel­la Pres­by­ter­ian.”

Plagued dai­ly by news of crime on the tele­vi­sion and news­pa­pers, she said young ones could be neg­a­tive­ly in­flu­enced, so it is im­por­tant for chil­dren to be in­volved in pos­i­tive events such as the walkathon.

Ex­plain­ing what the event meant to her, pupil Dko­da Hunte said, “It’s go­ing to be bet­ter for us af­ter COVID-19 and we get to come out and cel­e­brate Vista­bel­la Pres­by­ter­ian School and have a good time.”

An­oth­er pupil, Aiden Cord­ner said they were walk­ing in mem­o­ry of Black Stal­in and against crime in the coun­try. The walkathon start­ed and cul­mi­nat­ed at the school.