THE Kingston College (KC) graduating class of 1978 has donated $2.25 million to the school as part of its centenary celebration.

Ricardo McPherson, a member of the class and the chairperson of the Century Million Initiative (CMI), told the Jamaica Observer that the objective was to focus on a tangible project.

“We identified that the project was the co-ordinator’s office over at the Melbourne Park. We picked that project because Melbourne Park is often neglected in the grand scheme of things but that’s where our KC experience started. It’s like the cradle of our KC experience,” said McPherson.

“The co-ordinator’s room serves as a meeting point for parents, teachers, and students, so we believe that room should be very favourable in terms of presentation. Right now as we speak, they are working on it,” added McPherson.

He said initially, the collection of donations for the project was scheduled to be completed in two years.

“It could have been completed before the two years, but we wanted to make it as affordable as possible. On a monthly basis, that worked out to about US$10 per person if we had up to 30 guys. But different factors affected contribution,” McPherson told the Observer.

According to McPherson, the initial plan was to donate at least $1 million to the school, but the fund-raising committee was able to pull in more than two times the target. In the meantime, Everton Bailey, a member of the CMI, told the
Observer that part of the money will be spent on improving the co-ordinator’s room at the Melbourne campus with the rest going towards the Kingston College Centennial Fund.

“There is actually an overall KC Centennial Fund where we are trying to raise $1 billion to build an auditorium here at the North Street campus, so $1.3 million from this fund-raising will go to the co-ordinator’s office project and the remainder towards the auditorium,” Bailey said.

“One of the challenges going into the next 100 years for Kingston College is to continue to improve the infrastructure. And we are kind of strapped for space. We have limited land space so we are trying to acquire properties adjacent to the school both here and Elleston road where the Melbourne Park campus is located,” he added.

He pointed out that with the number of boys now attending KC, approximately 2,000, a modern fit-for-purpose auditorium is essential.

“When the boys meet they often just congregate outdoors and sometimes the elements are against us, it is hot, it’s raining, so we need a covered space that is multi-purpose. It can be used for an assembly but it can also be used for lawn tennis and basketball. We are trying to improve the infrastructure going into the next 100 years,” added Bailey.

He underscored that while this initiative is exclusively a Class of ‘78 effort, there is a call for other graduating classes to see what they can do to benefit the great institution.

Adolph Barclay, another member of the Class of ‘78, and the visionary behind the project, described the graduates as a band of brothers giving back to their foundation.

“We all started here in September of 1973 and we remain friends now 50 plus years. KC means a lot to us as young men going into adulthood. I am a willing participant in anything involving KC. I am there in whatever capacity I can. KC has done so much for us and anything we can do to give back to KC is an honour,” Barclay said.

Meanwhile, Devon “Ruty” Hussett, another member of the Class of ‘78, told the Observer that he was elated to be a part of the project.

“I feel proud of this initiative coming from a past student, a man like me who was born and raised in Fletcher’s Land, an inner-city community. I have a personal experience where I needed somebody to step in, so going from that I decided that if there is anything I can do to make a student not experience what I did while I was in school, I will do it. And that drives me to give back to the school,” said Hussett.