In a way, summer is a like a wave pulled all the way out to sea, and the first day of school is like that wave released in an enormous gush, crashing unto the shore all at once.
That was what happened today at schools all across Belize as students returned with crisply creased uniforms, sparkling white socks, screechy sneakers and all the hopes that come with any renewal.
Monica Bodden found out how it was going at St. Joseph 's Primary.
Monica Bodden, Reporting
It's the first day of school and for the Principal of St Joseph Primary School, it should be one of the most important days of the new school year for her students.
Gloricila Torres - Principal of St Joseph School
"The first day of school should be a happy day for our students because what you put in for the first day the children will never forget so we encourage our teachers to ensure that they have a beautiful classroom to welcome our children especially newcomers coming in to the infants as well that they will never forget their first day of classes."
There was a plan set in place this morning which made things much easier for parents to find their child's classroom.
Gloricila Torres - Principal of St. Joseph School
"We had a school plan, it was a plan where the parents can look at the plan of the building and they knew exactly where the building were, where the classes were and every teacher was requires to put their list up so that when the parents come in they know exactly where to check for the names of the children so that they know which class the child belongs."
These are the students of Infant 1 - class 1 - at St Joseph Primary School - they have just graduated from kindergarten and now it's their first day at a big school.
Monica Bodden
"Now you care to tell me how is your first day at school?"
Edgwin Harry
"Good."
Monica Bodden
"What did you do today?"
Edgwin Harry, Student
"Color a book and play games."
Monica Bodden
"What kind of games you played today?"
Edgwin Harry
"Singing games."
Monica Bodden
"You learned any new song? I heard you singing just now, did you learn anything? Any new song?"
Edgwin Harry
"Yes ma'am."
Monica Bodden
"Wanna sing one for me?"
Edgwin Harry
"Yes ma'am."
Monica Bodden
"Which one you are going to sing?"
Edgwin Harry
"Humpty Dumpty."
Monica Bodden
"Let me hear you sing humpty dumpty."
Edgwin Harry
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, humpty dumpty had a great fall, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put humpty dumpty back together again."
Even with 31 classrooms - the principal says they are fully enrolled.
Gloricila Torres - Principal of St. Joseph School
"The enrolment we had; we had children coming in this morning asking for a space. The space is very limited. It's a highly demanded school, we wish that we could help every parent that comes out of my office with a space but the spaces are not available."
Monica Bodden
"How many new students you guys have for this new school year?"
Gloricila Torres - Principal of St. Joseph School
"Roughly about 35 new ones who came in and some of them still coming in, we are waiting for their arrivals since they were away on trips."
Monica Bodden
"Well last year the enrolment was 917 and with 35 that should give us more, by Friday I should know more or less how many children we have in our school."
Here we are at a Standard 3 classroom -the students are all getting ready for a funeral. That's right - a funeral at school.
Class teacher Maria Pech - conducted an activity with her students called an "I Can't" Funeral.
Here's how it works: On a small piece of paper these youngsters each wrote down on thing they think they cannot do. When that was finished it was collected in this small box and then the students all set off into the schoolyard to bury them.
Monica Bodden
"Now Courtney tell me what you guys are actually doing at this time."
Courtney Matus - Student, St Joseph Primary School
"We are burying our 'I cant's'."
Monica Bodden
"Tell me a little bit about that? What did the class do to get all the "I can't" in that box."
Courtney Matus - Student, St Joseph Primary School
"Ok, well all we said about 'I can't' from last year what we couldn't do so we write it down on a piece of paper and we went to bury it."
Monica Bodden
"What was your 'I Can't?'"
Courtney Matus - Student, St Joseph Primary School
"I can't stop biting my nails."
And there is a new initiative on the agenda for St Joseph School. It's called Reach one - Teach one.
Gloricila Torres - Principal of St. Joseph School
"One thing we like to incorporate this coming school year; we want to ensure that our parents, our teachers, our students and the community at large be involve in a program that says 'reach one, teach one' whereby if you can read you can get somebody who maybe is not up to mark where you can help that child. So imagine if you reach one and you teach one, at the end of the year we'll have 100% literacy at St. Joseph School."
So far the school has 952 students.
Burglars Get “Bangles”
A 20 year old student was held up last night by an armed robber while walking on Yorke Street. But instead of the robber making off with anything he was caught by the cops.
It happened about 9:15 last night - David Yllescas was walking on Yorke Street when two men rode up to him on bicycles. One of the men jumped off his bike - pulled out a knife -placed it to Yllescas's midsection and demanded that he hand over everything.
Luckily for the student - a police officer was nearby and saw what was going on. The officer captured one of the culprits - who is identified as 18 year old Glenn Burgess of a Faber's Road Address. The other culprit on the bike managed to escape. Nothing was stolen and the knife was recovered. Burgess is currently in police custody pending charges.
In other news, police reportedly recovered a 12 guage shotgun with 6 cartridges yesterday morning at the corner of Plues and Berkely streets - an area that has been particularly riddled by shootings recently.
It was found stowed under a home and no one was charged; the gun was labeled as found property.
The Core Sampler – Gone With The Wind
The core sampler - once the subject of bloody and deadly riots in Orange Walk....has been stolen. It's part of a massive burglary from the Sugar Cane Quality Control Authority Building in Orange Walk.
Items totaling ($128,592.00) one hundred and twenty eight thousand five hundred and ninety dollars in value were stolen from the building.
On Monday August 30th, 42 year old Manager of the Belize Sugar Industry Control Board Marcos Osorio reported to police that sometime between the tenth of July and the twenty-eight of August of this year the Sugar Cane Quality Control Authority Building located at BSI was burglarized.
The items stolen include a Horizon Model 703 Hydraulic Press valued at $60,000, a Core Sampler valued at $60,000,two Aramy Hydraulic Presses valued at $8,000, two 40 Watt fluorescent bulbs valued at $40.00, and two kitchen sinks valued at $550.00.
City Gives Scholarships
Today three first formers were given the opportunity to make their dreams a reality as The Belize City Council partnered with The Belize Kids First Organization to give the students a high school scholarship inclusive of books and tuition. Anne Palacio, President of Belize Kids First Organization told Seven News that the scholarships have been given to well deserve students who will be able to give back to society.
Anne Palacio, President of Belize Kids First Organization
"It's was really from the perspective of their backgrounds. They really came from backgrounds that are in dire straits. They are children who really needed the help and they needed it immediately or else they could have been an alternative
that we didn't want to let them get into. Thos e kids are the ones pick because of the background that they had. The others have at least some type of sport, these children really didn't have that."
Christen Murillo, Scholarship Recipient
"My mother is sick with seizures. I want to be a doctor to help her and many people out there who need my help. I feel
happy and I just happy I got something and I will prove to them that I can do it. I will not let them down. It means that I will have to study hard and prove to them that I really need it and I will do my best to show them that I can do something good."
The four year scholarship given to Dorien Banks of ACC, Christen Murillo of Maud Williams and Malcolm Gallego of St John's are but a part of the assistance that The Belize Kids First Organization and The Belize City Council gave these students as they have been given the opportunity to get into a mentorship programme. The cheques valued over seven thousand dollars were handed out by Mayor Zenaida Moya-Flowers.
Benny’s Belizean Megastructure
It is among the tallest structures in Belize and The long anticipated opening of the multi-million dollar Benny's Superstore mile 2 and a half on the Northern Highway took place today.
Our team was as curious as anyone else and found that the new six story mega structure offers a few welcome perks to customers.
Jim McFadzean, Reporting
It stands six storeys high and boasts more than 18,000 cubic feet of space, making it one of the most spacious commercial shopping centers in the old capital. So why all this space?
Sean Feinstein, Managing Director
"We have been in the same location for quite some time now, the company has expanded its lines; 3,4,5 fold over the years; we've gone into equipment; we've gone into appliances; we've gotten much deeper into the tool line, heavier into lighting and we basically outgrew our space 3 or 4 years ago."
While space remains a premium at the old Benny's showroom on Regent Street, as one can see behind me, there is no shortage of that here at this superstore.
Not only has Benny outgrown its location on Regent street says Sean Feinstein, son of Ralph Feinstein the man behind the multi-million dollar expansion of a company that's been doing business in Belize for more than sixty years, the mega-structure is a sign of the company's confidence in the struggling Belizean economy.
Sean Feinstein, Managing Director
"This is a Belizean company and this is a Belizean family, we definitely are rooted in Belize for many years. Benny's started out in 1947 and a lot of people did not realize that, with my grandfather. So yes we would not have done this if we did not have the confidence in the Belizean people; if we did not have the confidence that Belize will continue to grow in the future."
This multi-million dollar structure comes outfitted with all the modern conveniences, easy accessibility being one of them.
Jim McFadzean
"First impression?"
Debbie Ordonez, Shopper
"I didn't feel like I was in Belize City, I feel like I was at Best Buy in Miami; comparison."
Jim McFadzean
"Is it going to make it easier for people in Belize to shop for high end items?"
Debbie Ordonez, Shopper
"I would think so, it's a one stop, I mean everything is here so yes I would have to agree with that."
Jim McFadzean
"What's your opinion on the prices?"
Debbie Ordonez, Shopper
"I really haven't been looking at the prices yet except for the exception of a fan, but with the discount right now, I think it's awesome."
Jim McFadzean
"And then what stands out for you?"
Debbie Ordonez, Shopper
"Like I said it's a one stop so that's in itself say a lot."
Jim McFadzean
"What's your first impression of this place?"
Dale Henderson, Shopper
"Quality, appearance; definitely a plus, absolutely. I think they have a variety of stuff that you normally won't be able to get anywhere else. So I think it's a fantastic here and the quality of the features of the place is just impressive."
Jim McFadzean
"You believe that this is a striking difference for the old Benny's?"
Dale Henderson, Shopper
"Absolutely by far this is the more like your Home Depot, Lowe's in the United States. I would compare it to those by far, it is right up there with them."
Alejandrina Burns, Shopper
"I thinks it's wonderful. It's giving our country a boost."
After 60 years in business, not only has Benny's changed the landscape and the skyline of the old capital, but it has now changed the way Belizeans shop", Reporting for Seven News, I'm Jim McFadzean.
The architect was Thurton and Associates and the contractor was David Medina....
29: the Magic Number
It isn't everyday that younger artists like Gilvano Swasey share the same stage with the likes of George Gabb, Pen Cayetano and Yasser Musa but Swasey's 1998 'Contemplating the Revolution' was one of the 29 pieces in The National Collection of Art entitled "29: Artists Works Years."
29: Artists Works Years is a collection of paintings, sculpture, photography and mixed media which feature pieces by 29 artists including Richard Holder, Benjamin Nicholas and Lucky Chiang.
The exhibition which is organized by NICH along with the National Celebrations Commission and has been on a country-wide tour and which ended today in Belize City.
Bill Skinner, Consultant to NICH told Seven News that this is no ordinary exhibition
Bill Skinner, Curator NICH
"We started to discuss having an exhibition for the 29th anniversary and so we decided to go with 29 works of art by 29 artists to celebrate the 29th anniversary of the nation. We have a national collection of art within NICH and so the 29 were chosen from that much larger collection. And we decided to have a range of different mediums so we have photography, painting, and sculpture and then we try to have a range of artist as well from different areas. We are still predominately Belize City heavy but we do have some representation by the districts as well. We decided that a lot of this happens culturally in Belize City but we wanted to get out to the districts and to get to other areas of the country, so as to increase the exposure of the exhibit. So we started in the north; in Corozal in the beginning of June and we pretty much went from north to south. We stopped in Orange Walk, Benque, Dangriga, PG as well as Belmopan before coming here so it was really a chance to get it out and let everyone have the opportunity to see this work. Overall it was very good. A lot of positive feedback, people signed our guest book, gave us their insights and advice and even criticism. But overall it was really fantastic, people were very happy that we made the trip out there and that we brought and we shared this artwork with them."
Gilvano Swasey, Curatot and Artist
"Traditionally exhibitions in Belize will be mainly solo exhibits. It will just be the artist with all his works, or he might do a group exhibit 1 or 2 and it will be similar themes but it's the first time it's put in a historical context. Like I said this is the national collection, it's just a portion of what has been collected through NICH and it's basically showing where we stand as artists, as creative people, what images we have been capturing, there's images of the market scene from the 70s. There are images of Belizean characters, there is photographic stuff, there is contemporary works, and there are installations. So it's like a snapshot of what makes Belize creative. It's actually a piece that I did in 1998 which is a very long time ago."
The Exhibition opens tomorrow at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts and runs through to Friday September 24th.
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There was a fire this morning in the city - it is the fourth fire to destroy a wooden structure in 9 days. This one happened at around 11:15 on Fuller's Lane - which connects Wilson and Kelly streets. As this amateur video showed, the fire tore through the small wooden structure.
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He came on a cruise ship, but it seems one tourist was looking for more than seas and trees, he wanted some Belizean Breeze...
