Author Topic: St Patrick’s High School Karachi 150-year  (Read 5245 times)

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St Patrick’s High School Karachi 150-year
« on: May 08, 2010, 10:32:19 AM »
St Patrick’s High School Karachi 150-year

Karachi:The legendary St Patrick’s High School Karachi on Friday organized a colourful inaugural ceremony to herald the year-long celebration in connection with the 150 years of the school, which culminates next year on May 6, 2011. More than 1500 people attended the glamorous event which was followed by a fabulous display of fireworks and sumptuous dinner.

The school premises were decorated with fairy-lights and all its majestic buildings gave a fairy-tale look which brought back memories for the many alumni who attended the function. The old boys met with their revered teachers, exchanged and rekindled old friendships and joined the management and students of the school in ushering a full year’s celebration.

Earlier, the chief guest His Lordship Evarist Pinto, Archbishop of Karachi, was given an impressive guard of honour by the boys scouts troupe and the school’s famous Brass Band. In his opening remarks, the school Principal Rev. Fr. Joseph Paul eulogized the vision and foresight of the founding fathers and elaborated on the multi-faceted sections on campus.

He said: “St Patrick’s has produced many distinguished personalities of all ranks and stature, it is a large school catering to all strata of society with more than 5,500 students on its rolls and a staff of 350 dedicated teachers and office managers.” He welcomed all guests, including former principals, teachers and ex-students who had turned up in large numbers.

The scrumptious ceremonious cake was then cut by Bishop Evarist Pinto, along with Rev. Fr. Joseph Paul and the Vice Principal Rev. Fr. Norbert Mendonca. Schoolchildren surrounded the cake cutting ceremony and waved sparklers. The Little Shamrocks, an all-boys choir, gave an enchanting rendering of “I have a dream” and “I like to teach the world to sing” — two immortalized songs that conveyed messages of a good future for the school and of love, brotherhood and friendship. This was followed by a video presentation of the history of school prepared by a local television channel.

On the occasion, Archbishop Evarist Pinto congratulated the management of the school and appreciated the progress the institution had made despite the continuing pressure for admissions and room for expansion. He praised the founders of the school and all subsequent priests and teachers who dedicatedly served the institution. Appreciating the arrangements, Bishop Evarist congratulated the organizing team for putting up a grand show and hoped that the school would continue to follow in the footsteps of the motto “Service to God and Country”.

The organisers team was led by Jeremy Nazareth who was also the Master of Ceremonies for the evening and did a splendid job. The Shamrockerz — a musical group comprising ex-students gave a remarkable performance of old time favorites in English, a medley which left many old teachers and students swinging to their gyrating beat.

A similar performance in Urdu, a mix of popular songs, was also the highlight of evening. The audience joined in the singing by clapping of hands and cheered the performers.

Two former students Shahid Feroz and Kadir Shajani, the latter, President of the Old Patricians, also spoke on the occasion and paid rich tributes to the school, teachers and the good times they had on campus in their early youth. Shajani said: “I would like to congratulate everyone today who is a Patrician, wherever you are, you have made the school proud by your character, achievements and most importantly, as a good human being — qualities we inherited as students of this great institution.” The old boys’ network of the school is an expanding group and can be reached at www.theoldpatricians.org

In his vote of thanks, Vice Principal Rev. Fr. Norbert Mendonca thanked the Archbishop of Karachi for gracing the occasion, former principals, vice principals, teachers and ex-students, the performers of the evening, and also had a word of praise for his staff and students who combined well to put up a fine performance. This was followed by the singing of the school song by all those present in the background of a grand fireworks display which brought the ceremony to a befitting close.