After 21 years in the classroom, Esher Primary School’s Aldith Stephens understands, perhaps more than most, just how important extra-curricula activities are to the education experience.

“I believe children should be rounded as not every child is good at the academics… plus it makes them more marketable,” Stephens explained to the Observer West.

Consequently, Stephens has dedicated a major portion of her time outside class hours to drill the young Esher Primary School students in the rudiments of the performing arts. The ever-pleasant teacher not only spends time rehearsing with the children, but spends some of her personal earnings sometimes to feed them.

Her efforts have not gone in vain as the Hanover school has won a number of trophies in the JCDC Festival of Arts competitions over the years. Also, in 2003 Stephens was awarded the trophy for being the most outstanding traditional dance teacher in the western region.

But Stephens wasn’t always this steeped in the performing arts as her father, who is now deceased, was a strict Church of God minister who “considered it sinful to even dance”.

“Maybe I was yearning for something like this that is why I got involved,” a smiling Stephens mused.

Stephens also indicated that she might have inherited her love for children from her mother who was also an outstanding educator.

“My love for teaching and young children must have been inherited from my mother who was a teacher,” explained Stephens.

The mother of three, Stephens graduated from Rusea’s High School at age 16 and volunteered as a pre-teacher at the Green Island Primary School where she instantly became deeply involved in the performing arts.

She subsequently enrolled at the Sam Sharpe Teacher’s College where she graduated in 1986 with a Diploma in Teacher Education. Next she joined the teaching staff of the Lucea Primary School where she taught the Common Entrance class while remaining involved in the performing arts.

After seven years, she headed to Esher Primary School where she now teaches Grade Five students.

A versatile mathematics resource teacher, Stephens is also the netball coach and plays an active role in preparing students for the Spelling Bee contest and the Quiz team, in addition to being involved in the performing arts.

The holder of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Applied Science obtained from the Eastern Connecticut State University, Stephens is also very active in cultural activities in her community as a culture agent on the Hanover Cultural Committee, which forms a part of the Jamaica Development Commission.

A self-described workaholic, Stephens predicts that this year Esher Primary will cop a record number of trophies in the JCDC festivals.