LUCEA, Hanover – The Rusea’s Old Students Association (ROSA) will today host a formal dinner as part of efforts to raise funds for the construction of a learning resource centre at their alma mater, the Rusea’s High School.

The dinner is to be staged at the school’s auditorium, according to ROSA president Evelyn Frazer. Tickets are being sold at $3,000.

A portion of the proceeds will go towards the construction of the learning centre, which is to cost an estimated six million dollars. There is already a design in place for the centre, which is to house, among other things, a number of computers even as it facilitates innovative approaches to teaching and learning.

The objective, Frazer said, is to have the centre serve the needs of those students who face challenges in the learning process. And she said that the hope was that they could begin construction by March next year.

The Rusea’s High School was the brainchild of the late Martin Rusea’s who, in the latter part of the 1700s, left trust money to fund the establishment of a school for the education of the children of Hanover’s poor whites.

His actions were reportedly prompted by the hospitality he was shown after landing in the parish, having fled his homeland. In the years since the school began its operations, the student population has grown from less than 100 to over 2,000.

Meanwhile, today’s dinner forms part of a slate of activities that ROSA is undertaking as part of their reunion this year. They include a school uniform fete at Fort Charlotte, which took place yesterday, as well as a range of sports activities as well as a church service and picnic scheduled for tomorrow.

williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com