A Combermere School alumnus returned to his alma mater on Wednesday with the highest title of the land, rallying students against Barbados’ gun violence epidemic by launching the Chapman Challenge, a three-year programme to build leadership, discipline, and pathways from community “lanes” to personal peaks.
Quoting the first verse of the Combermere School song, President Jeffrey Bostic visited addressed the Waterford school in the latest stop on his island-wide school tour and his vow to visit every primary, secondary, private and special needs school.
President Bostic admitted to the difficulties of this massive undertaking saying: “I had no illusion whatsoever that it would have been an easy undertaking. When I got into the role of being President of Barbados and I saw the number of things that I was called upon to do, I knew that this would have been a challenge.”
Recalling Combermere’s open past, village teams playing on its fields, locals cheering school matches, he critiqued sidelined talents in music, sports, and trades. “At school, I did music… but music for me and people of my vintage. It was never instilled in us that there was any career that we could make from playing music.”
Enter the Chapman Challenge, named for his roots but open to all. “It’s a challenge that takes you from where you are, which is the lane, to the highest point in the country, Hillaby, which is the pinnacle… of your aspirations.” Structured over three years with logged hours in approved activities like community cleanups, beach parks, neighborhoods, and aiding the homeless or needy at centers, it emphasizes five principles without replacing existing programs.
“Using the community as a classroom,” he began, crediting his village upbringing. “Discipline before privilege… character, commitment, and consistency.” Then, “Mentorship as currency,” echoing his own unsung school guides who became father or mother figures.
Bostic vowed to pioneer this “sustained and sustainable effort,” fostering “leadership grounded in service, discipline, character” for social mobility. He urged embracing roles like prefects, captains, cadets, and scouts: “Grasp them… everything that you are doing here… came back to me” in his military rise.
After his speech, President Bostic went into a question and answer segment where students were offered the opportunity to ask the head of state whatever they pleased. The questions ranged from inspiration to plans that can be implemented by the President.
In the vote of thanks, done by deputy head boy and deputy head girl Jaheim Carter and Kaylia Doughty respectively, Carter said: “Seeing one of our own, a former student of this great institution, ascend to the highest office in the land serves as a powerful reminder to every one of us that there’s no limits to what a Combermere can achieve.”
Doughty said: “Your insight on leadership and service, rooted in your own journey from these very classrooms to the presidency, have left an indelible mark on us.”
A gift was also presented to the President as a thank you for visiting the school. It was a plaque with the shape of Barbados on a road tennis racket on it and an inscription of the school motto ‘Up and On’. The visit underscores Bostic’s school tour, with more stops planned to tackle youth drift before they “fall overboard.” Students nodded as he closed: “Our task is to try to stand that tide.”
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