In a short, sweet ceremony that allowed students and donors to get back to work Thursday, representatives from Rotary of St. Thomas presented a gift of $30,000 worth of automotive tools to students and faculty of the Charlotte Amalie High School vocational education program.
“It looks like Christmas came early this year,” CAHS Principal Carmen Howell said jokingly as she surveyed the rows of hammers and saws, sockets and sanders displayed in the body shop. “These are things that will definitely be used,” she added.
Howell thanked the club for the gift to the body and fender program Thursday and applauded its continued support of CAHS programs, including donations to other vocational workshops and a life-skills program to help students understand the responsibilities of pregnancy and raising children.
“We’re not just a bunch of old people who meet each week and have lunch,” said St. Thomas Rotary president Marston Winkles, as he explained the gift to a about dozen students Thursday. “We really try to do good things.”
Winkles said his club raised $5,000 with its annual “St. John-athon” run across St. John last year. By partnering with two clubs in Georgia, and getting both the respective Rotary districts and Rotary International to chip in, Winkles said their $5,000 soon grew to $30,000.
“That’s how it works,” he said.
“Thanks for the tools,” one of the students blurted out from the back of the room, provoking applause from students, faculty and donors alike.
“Take care of them and make good use of them,” Winkles answered back.
Alyster Edwards, a CAHS guidance counselor who works with the Career and Technical Education program, said about 500 students at the school take vocational education courses in grades 11 and 12.
Looking proud as he peered around the clean body and fender shop, where a half-dozen trucks and cars sat waiting for repairs, Edwards said the program gives students an alternative.
“Let’s face it,” he said. “It’s not everybody that you can send up an academic pathway.”
But good grades in academic subjects are necessary if students want the practical training offered in programs like automotive mechanics and body repair, Edwards said.
“If they don’t,” he said, “they won’t be able to finish this program.”
“This is great because when kids come in here, or bring their friends in here, and anyone sees how it’s set up, it gives them the enthusiasm to continue,” he said. “They do good work.”
He said some local employers scout and recruit some students before they even graduate.
“We are extremely grateful,” Howell said after the ceremony as she said goodbye to donors and congratulated body repair teacher Casmore E’Bas for his organized shop.
“Our Career and Technical Education program is important. We are really trying to integrate the trades with our other programs,” Howell said. “The students get a chance to get out there in the world of work, even before they ever leave high school.”
