Report of the Academic and Scholarship Committee (ASC)2016-2017Gudrun HarrisChair

Early to Rise to Start the Day

Traffic into central Monrovia from the Paynesville andSinkor areas are gridlocked in the mornings. Because ofthe major traffic jams, one must be up as early as4:30am, and leave home no later than 6:00am to beable to get to the school on time for devotion, whichbegins at 8:30am. Not knowing this, on the first day, I lefthome at 6:45am, and missed devotion. The followingday, to be on time for devotion, I had to leave my houseat 6:00am, and was able to attend devotion.

Dates of visits to B. W. Harris Episcopal School

• Tuesday, February 21st

• Wednesday, February 22nd

• Thursday, February 23rd

• Friday, February 24th

• Monday, February 27th

• Tuesday, February 28th

Tours and Meetings at the School• Met scholarship students and

parents

• Met with student body at 8:15am (2 days)

• Visited every classroom

• Toured Clinic

• Toured Library

• Toured Computer Lab

• Inspected back of the school building

• Inspected cafeteria

• Toured Science Lab

• Science Club – requested my

present at their presentation

• Met with Board of Trustees

(Association hosted lunch

meeting)

• Met with Faculty and Staff

(Association hosted lunch

meeting)

• Inspected Bathrooms

Meetings with Principal Hilary Collins Discussion Topics

• Construct a new front face for the school

• Build a new gate

• Rehabilitate the auditorium floor

• Install drapes for the stage

• Paint the school every semester

• Upgrade furniture in the library

• Establish an elective education program

• Acquire additional Science

lab items

• Expand the seating capacity

of the computer lab from 20 –

35 or 40 computers by

acquiring 15-20 more

computers)

• Acquire kindergarten desks

and chairs (Special project

WIP)

Actions Taken/Contemplated by Principal Collins to Raise Academic Standards

• Because of crowded Classrooms no more new registrants

• Demote students with bad grades

• Filter out bad teachers

• Bringing in good teachers

• Continue after school program

• On going teachers’ training (The last one was completed the Saturday I arrived)

• For the medium to long term, focus more on the lower classes with good educational materials

Observations of the Academic and Scholarship Committee

• Students on scholarship who failed DO NOT remain on the scholarship

• Students are required to have a minimum grade point to receive scholarship

• NO B. W. HARRIS SCHOLARHIP STUDENT FAILED THE WAEC!

• In the last three years, the valedictorians and salutatorians have been our scholarships students

• This year $12,000.00+ of the $19,000.00 spent on scholarship was raised from donors and NOT the Association’s budget

Scholarship: During the meeting with the scholarship parents and students the following

topics were covered

• The Academic and Scholarship Committee with the authorization of the National Chair raised the minimum GPA from 80% to 85%

• BWHESAA-USA will accept 1 or 2 hardship students with lower GPA (Per donor’s request)

• Parents MUST review students’ essay prior to submitting

• Parents MUST work with students to complete applications

• All Incomplete documents will be rejected

Scholarship: During the meeting with the scholarship parents and students the following

topics were covered

• The ASC chair expressed disappointments with parents not taking time to thank the association, noting that in the last 6 years only 2 parents have written the association to say “Thank You.”

• Students always keep in touch to say “Thank You”

• Parents should continue to maintain the cleanup campaign established in 2012

• Parents should take the initiative by selecting a leader in their group to communicate with the association/committee to write a “Thank You” letter to the association with all of the confirmed students’ parents’ signatures at least twice a year

A plaque with 60 Scholarship donors’ names was taken to Liberia, presented to Principal Collins, and placed in the library: Height: 21 Inches; Width: 1 inch; Length: 15 inches; Weight: 6 ½ lbs

Meeting with the President and Members of the Board of TrusteesSubject Matters

• Maintaining relationship between the Association and the school

• Finalizing the Memorandum of Understanding between the Association and the school – executed between the National Chair and the President of the Board Association Board

• The long-standing matter of the Association’s Representative to the Board (Board President will discuss our concerns with Bishop Hart)

• Conveyed the concern on behalf of the Association regarding the turnover ofprincipals which have impacted the school and the students. Board President,Anthony Deline, authorized me to inform the Association that the current Principalwill remain on the job according to his own decision.

RECOMMENDATIONS - SCHOOL

• Attend to painting and other items needed to be fixed

• Increase the yearly maintenance fee from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00

• Do maintenance transfer per semester instead once a year – this willhelp give the school a new look every semester since the paint andother wear and tear happen during the year.

• The entire school needs to be painted every semester includingoutside, classrooms, bathrooms, clinic and library. This should alsoinclude the red paint for the floors. This will allow the buildings to lookclean and professional during the course of the year instead ofonce a year where the rain comes and washes the paint away.

RECOMMENDATIONS - SCHOOL

• All windows to be replaced

• The Board agreed with the recommendation to have schoolpainted with more white than Blue

• The school should purchase better paint instead of what they havebeen using since it was confirmed there are better paints sold.

• Auditorium floor should be done by a professional cleaner. PrincipalCollins was requested to obtain information about the contractorthat does the Episcopal Church floors, which is professionally done.

• Auditorium drapes are needed to separate the stage. Spartan Christian Collins was requested to provide quote for custom drapes for the auditorium stage.

RECOMMENDATIONS - SCHOOL

• Clinic and bathroom in Clinic need a little work: paint and floor cleaning

• The National Chair has proposed a professional plan to change the front facing of the school. During the meeting with the Board of Trustees, they agreed that a gate should be placed in front of the old building to maintain the new face lift, keep the area clean and prevent street sellers from selling on school property.

Recommendations to Improve Academic Performance at B. W. Harris Episcopal School

Objective of recommendations: To enhancestudents’ overall academic performance aboveand beyond success in the West African ExamCouncil (WAEC). Put bluntly, it is reasonable tocultivate students not just to pass a specificachievement test but to instill in them skills to meetother challenges of life.

PASSING WAEC IS HOWEVER A MILESTONE!

Recommendations to Improve Academic Performance at B. W. Harris Episcopal School

• Hiring of competent instructors: due diligence is essential to verify their credentialsand interest or love of being in the classroom.

• Punctuality of instructors (emphasis not only on students) is paramount: showingup late for lecture ultimately reduces time allocated to cover a lesson plan.

• Every instructor should have a verifiable lesson plan.

• Lesson plan should align with school curriculum which in turn is consistent withnational curriculum (if any) and WAEC.

• The school principal should inspect lesson plans on a regular basis with occasionalclassroom visit to observe performance of instructors and students.

Recommendations to Improve Academic Performance at B. W. Harris Episcopal School

• Performance based incentives: incentives predicated on seniority (current systemin place) should be replaced with performance based incentives. Instructorsshould get BONUSES for excellent work and not for how long they have beenemployed.

• Routine parents teachers association or conference as information session:student progress report, responsibilities and input of parents and teachers areconsidered.

• Prescribed text books should be accessible.

• Students who do not pass (minimum score to be determined) basic subjects asprescribed by the school, government or WAEC should not be recommended totake WAEC.

Recommendations to Improve Academic Performance at B. W. Harris Episcopal School

• Scholarship requirements should not be relaxed in order to accommodate certain students. Scholarships are meant for high performing students with financial needs.

• After school program is in the pipeline for students in need from grades 10th

through 12.th

• ASC encourages chapters to support this endeavor.

Finally, we are, as alumni, stakeholders in B. W. Harris Episcopal HighSchool: we affect what the school does and what the school does alsoaffects us. As an alumni association the school is our legacy. LET USSUPPORT OUR ALMA MATER!

Donations to Scholarships (2016 – 2017)Donors

Donor’s Full Name ContactCashDonation

Paypal Donation

Check Donation

A Golden Powell Charles Hoffman $25.00

A John & Jospehine Massaquoi Charles Hoffman $100.00

Adam & Adam Schift Charles Hoffman $100.00

Aram Gibson Charles Hoffman $100.00

Aurelius Weeks Charles Hoffman $50.00

Cash Charles Hoffman $125.00 $125.00

Cerue Barbara Darby Charles Hoffman $50.00

Charles Hoffman Charles Hoffman $375.00

Charles Stone Charles Hoffman $50.00

Cherrine Smith Charles Hoffman $100.00

Donations to Scholarships (2016 – 2017)Donors

Donor’s Full Name ContactCash Donation

Paypal Donation

Check Donation

Crispin A Abad Charles Hoffman $200.00

Elfreda Vincent Charles Hoffman $60.00

Evergreen contractors, Inc. Charles Hoffman $100.00

Geraldine Pitts Charles Hoffman $25.00

Gregory Peterson Charles Hoffman $38.00

Hilary R Bryant Charles Hoffman $25.00

James Shannon Charles Hoffman $100.00

Joseph & Comfort Lawrence Charles Hoffman $50.00

Julia Isable Astte Rev. Yueh Charles Hoffman $200.00

Nina & william Schenck Charles Hoffman $25.00

Stephen Mayer Charles Hoffman $100.00

Tobertha & Walter Jackson Charles Hoffman $100.00

Justin Kla-Williams Charles Hoffman $100.00

Donations to Scholarships (2016 – 2017)Donors

Donor’s Full Name ContactCash Donation

PaypalDonation

Check Donation

Thomas Worjroh Maria George $100.00

Enid Mae Jones Marie George $50.00

Maria Boutier Maria George $75.00

Idella Haider Maria George $25.00

Kathleen Berard Maria George $50.00

Laurine Deline Maria George $50.00

La-Verne Williams Maria George $50.00

Martha D. Gargar-Charley Maria George $100.00

Charles Bryant Marie George $50.00

Joanna Freeman-Richards $200.00

Jimmy Smith $35.00

Class of 1982 $500.00

Jerry Sion $300.00

Dr. Quall Stevens Stevens Scholarship $5,000.00

Donations to Scholarships (2016 – 2017)Donors

Donor’s Full Name ContactCash Donation

PaypalDonation

Check Donation

Davidlyn Moore Davidlyn Moore $700.00

Meyartha Perry Meyartha Perry $100.00

Class of 1981 Nikki Dunbar $500.00

Jeanette B Worjroh Maria George $35.00

Class of 1981 Nikki Dunbar $350.00

Albertha Gillespie Albertha Gillespie $50.00

Mary West Maria George $50.00

Class of 1981 Nikki Dunbar $150.00

Jurudoe Harris Martin $200.00

Richelieu Dennis/Nyema Tubman Gudrun Harris $2,500.00

Maria George $100.00

Class of 1982 $500.00

Auggie's Unique Touch Charles Hoffman $100.00

Yvette Tubman Class of 1980 $600.00

Donations to Scholarships (2016 – 2017)June 2017

GOAL $15,000.00

RECEIVED $14,368.00

OUTSTANDING ($632.00)

2016 – 2017 Scholarship Students: 40 Student Total

NAME GRADE GPA

ALBERTLYN B. DOSSEN 10th 83.5%

EMMANUEL CANNEH 10th 81%

MA HAWA SOE 10th 80.3%

YUSSIF KEITA 10th 81.8%

DELROY TAYLOR 9th 89.6%NEW

FORKPAYEA H. FORKPAH 9th 84%

MARK SAYON 9th 85.8%

MERA DOE 9th 82.8%

MUHAMMAD ALI ISSA 9th 85.3%

PEGGY ETHEL WILSON 9th 83.6%

FELICIA ISAIAH 9th 83%NEW

2016 – 2017 Scholarship Students:40 Students Total

NAME GRADE GPA

T. ADAMA SENWAH, JR 8th 83.6%

ALEXIS SLEWEON 8th 81%

ANTIONA VARNEY 8th 80%

BONE F. GONO 8th 80.1%

CHRISTINE LELA TODD 8th 81.2%

DARIUS F. WONKULAH 8th 81%

MYA TOE 8th 82.8%

RAMSEY D. KORLISON 88.7%

SAMUEL D. WEIDEHGAR 8th 83.8%

THOMAS P. DAVIDS 8th 82.8%

MABELINE L. MERCHANT 7th 85.8%

2016 – 2017 Scholarship Students:40 Students Total

NAME GRADE GPA

PECULIAR S. MAKOR 6th 85.5%

RODNELL M .KOFFA 6th 82.8%

TIBITHA S. KOLUBAH 6th 88.6%NEW

GRACE C. DAVIES 5th 80.8%

SHAWN KELLY 5th 78.0%NEW HARDSHIP

ZOE HARRIS 5th 87.8%

C. AUGUSTUS BERNARD 4th 91.3%

CHIDINMA E. OKOLI 4th 93.5%NEW

ELSIE JEWEL MASSAQUOI 4th 93.5%NEW

2016 – 2017 Scholarship Students:40 Students Total

NAME GRADE GPA

AISHA M. SHERIFF 3rd 86.6%

ALIETHIA KEMOKAI 3rd 93.8%NEW

AUGUSTINA G. SAMBOLLAH 3rd 92.6%

CHRICHANNA NEAL 3rd 89.4%NEW

FAITH ZEELA KENNEDY 3rd 90.8%NEW

WINFRED ALLEN 3rd

C. VALENTINE WEAH 2nd 90.1%NEW

LAWRENTEE FUMBAH 2nd 93.7%NEW

BINTU SOMAH 1st 97.6%NEW

SCHOLARSHIP PARENTS SIGNATURES

SCHOLARSHIP PARENTS SIGNATURES

Statement of Thanks and Appreciation 2016-2017 Scholarship Students

THANK YOU

Members of the Academic and Scholarship

Committee

Gudrun Harris , Chair

Dr. Qualls Stevens, Co-Chair

Leuvet Stevens

Leah Findley- Porter

Charles L. Hoffman

Maria George

Rosalyn Kai Lewis - Coleman

Members of the Academic and Scholarship

Committee

Famatta Lincoln

Jurudoe Martin

Lemuel Faghnon

Dr. Eugenia Burphy-Andrews

Louisa Merchant

BWHESAA-USA’s Liaison Adolf Sackey -Liberia

Principal Hilary Collins - Liberia