WSS Alumni Association President's Report 2013

Woodbrook Secondary Alumni Association 

Presidents Report May 2013 

 Members of the executive of the Woodbrook Secondary School Alumni Association, The Principal, Teachers, Most Welcomed Guests and fellow Alumni Members, the quote “Rome was not built in a day” is attributed to an Englishman, John Heywood. Mr. Heywood died in 1580, however, his quote lives on some 433 years hence.

Message
This evening, if I had the opportunity to leave one message with all in attendance and those who might read this later on, that message would be that the WSS Alumni cannot be built in one day or even one night.

Pioneers
I am proud and thankful for the pioneers of the WSSA, since without them we were not going to be here this evening.

Tenth Anniversary
This year marks our tenth anniversary. I am proud of where we have reached on this journey. I refer to the building of the Alumni as a journey because sometimes we tend to believe that just by saying or writing a word “Alumni” ……. that……….magic follows and voom………..contributions/donations are received by the Alumni and this is followed by a beautiful ceremony where we present $5,000,000.00 to the school for the building of a new sixth form wing or some other worthwhile venture.

Treasure, Time and Talent
Rome was not built in a day and during the last 10 years your executive invested treasure, time and talent into the building of a strong membership base. Our focus has been on organising functions which allowed our past students to reunite and grow in numbers. We have noted that many of our past students have advanced extremely well in their professions and many of them want to give back treasure, time and talent to the school and to help their fellow schoolmates who are not yet maximising their full potential. We are sure that this spirit of sharing is a key ingredient in building a strong, effective and efficient WSS Alumni. As a matter of fact, our MayDay event is one of the ways your Alumni is demonstrating that spirit of sharing.

 Maintained Stable Financial Position
Rome was not built in a day and we have been able to maintain a stable financial position, notwithstanding some challenging times during our first 10 years. Our efficient and no-nonsense Treasurer will provide details in a few minutes. As a consequence of this stable financial position together with our growing membership, we have been able to explore some attractive fund-raising options.

Future Events
This is a call for all WSS Alumni to use your resources and contacts to ensure that our Retro-Party, which will be held on Friday July 12th, 2013 at the Queens Park Oval in Port of Spain, is a tremendous success. We are looking forward to reuniting over 300 past students and realising a profit margin of over $40,000.00. This would allow us to give a significant contribution to the school towards building of the sixth form wing. Please also note that our Dinner and Dance is carded for November, 09th, 2013 and further details with respect to venue and costs will be sent to you, once these are finalised. We also plan to have an All-Inclusive Carnival Party in 2014. Rome was not built in one day. Our mission is to build an Alumni that is strong and stable.

Performance Gaps
Fellow members of the Alumni, over the last 10 years, there have been gaps in what we have planned to do and what we have delivered to you. In particular, we had planned to be more communicative and to share the road map of the Alumni with all our members and our potential members. Your executive is working to correct this performance gap via clearing up the strategic map and increasing the sources and the frequency of communication. I am please to report that Ms. Denise Darlington, one of our members, who currently resides in England, created an e-newsletter for the WSSA together with a Facebook page to share all the great plans and exciting achievements of the Alumni and our individual members. Denise, I publicly thank you for the investment of treasure, time and talent for the long term benefit of the WSSA.

Thank you 
Our first ten years could not have been so successful without the support and overt commitment of many persons. However, I want to single out our current school Principal, Mr. Shawn Tull. Maybe Rome could have been built in a much shorter period if they had a supportive, committed and action-oriented resource like Mr. Tull. On behalf of the Alumni, I publicly thank you Mr. Principal for your undying support and commitment to the school and to the Alumni. In closing, I want thank each and every past student here this evening for your support. I also encourage your continued support to the WSS Alumni on this journey of building an Alumni that is strong, sustainable and designed to last for over 400 years.

I thank you.

Carol Tarradath
President