The spirit of independence was floating throughout the country and even on the school grounds of Mac Donald College. The students were very excited about the inaugural Independence Class Decorating Competition. The brainchild for the competition came indirectly from Miss Loraine De Allie, Acting Principal. During a Senior Management Team meeting she indicated that there should be another activity (apart from the customary general assembly) in which students would be more involved in highlighting Grenada’s independence anniversary. The head of the Social Science Department Mrs. Sharon Francis took this information to her department and the class decorating competition was the result. All 19 forms participated in the competition. Judging occurred on a block level. Thus the ones, twos, threes and fours and fives were judged together. The criteria for judging were use of theme, creativity, use of national colours and utilization of space. Each of these was graded out of five. The panel of judges comprised Mrs. Cyinnica Chitterman Head of the Modern Languages Department, Mrs. Sharon Francis, Mr. Anslem Charles new recruit and Science teacher, Mrs. Susan Jones-Benjamin itinerant Performing Arts teacher and Mrs. Salie Palmer Guidance Counsellor. The winners were Form 1B, Form 2AC, Form 3BN and Form 5G. The overall winner was form 3BN. Each form received an iced cake. Due to financial constraints, there was initially only one prize. However, the consensus among teachers was that there should be more than one prize since the students had not only worked very hard, but they had invested money in the competition. To this end, Head of the Mathematics Department, Mr. Dillon Paterson and veteran Agricultural Science teacher Mr. Leslie Nicholas donated the cakes for forms one and two respectively. The school supplied the other two cakes. As overall winner of the competition, Form 3BN also received a case of locally produced soft drink. According to organiser and judge, Mrs. Sharon Francis, Form 3BN was most impressive, but the form fours were somewhat disappointing. Excluding Form 4BN, little or no attempt was made by the fourth formers to decorate their classrooms whereas the students of Form 3BN had gone all out. When the judges entered the classroom they were taken on a tour. The tour guide according to Mrs. Francis was very articulate and knowledgeable. The classroom was rearranged, but it was organized in such a way such a way that each student was able to participate in the presentation and teachers were able to teach their lessons. Red and yellow curtains were hung on the partitions at the front and back of Form 3BN. They not only covered the graffiti, but enhanced the aura of the classroom. On the left wall of the classroom were huge water paintings of cocoa and nutmeg. Opposite, pictures of the present and former Prime Ministers, the present and former Governor Generals and a synopsis of Grenada’s history plastered the wall. In every corner of the classroom were red, yellow and green balloons. What is independence without buntings? Buntings in the national colours hung from the ceiling in a zigzag manner. In the middle of the classroom were seven desks and chairs. They formed an oval and on each was a paper flag and baskets of local produce such as gospo, orange, cocoa, nutmeg and banana. Closer to the walls and back partition were the remaining desks and chairs which formed a U. The independence theme: “Celebrating 37 years through challenging times with optimism and resilience” was written on the white board at the front of the room. A red, yellow and green streamer brandishing the words: “Happy Anniversary Grenada” also dangled in front of the white board. For next year’s competition, Mrs. Francis is hoping that most of the decorating could be done the day before since a lot of class time was lost and that the judging criteria would be improved. She is also considering utilising external judges to increase the level of objectivity. All in all, she was elated at the students’ level of enthusiasm and participation and a bit surprised that they could have hardly waited for the results of the competition which were given the next day in the General Assembly. One of the form teachers of Form 3BN, Mr. Frankie Noel beamed with pride as he was congratulated.