2011 Class Platinum

Graduation: A New Beginning

by Jon Kennedy

June brings a wide variety of activities as the LCS campus prepares for the end of the academic year, graduation, and the departure of the Volunteers. It is a time of joy and tears, happy accomplishments and sad partings.

During the week leading up to graduation, the Philo (13^th grade) and Rhéto (12^th grade) students clean and repaint sections of the campus (including the ‘Matthew 10:8 wall’) and the staff ensures that all food and logistical preparations are in order. The Philo students work hard on their class speech, which is read during graduation in the four languages of LCS (Kreyol, French, English, and Spanish).

Each year the Philo students also select a name for their promotion and paint a mural to commemorate the graduating class. The Class of 2011 has chosen ‘Platinum’. The name signifies their willingness to be a catalyst for change of immense value. “I am proud of the name and the significance they have found in it. I enjoy hearing the name each year and reflecting how it fits the class’s future and past,” says Deacon Patrick Moynihan.

The final days of school are a time for reflection, joy, and celebration as the Philo students prepare to spread the mission of LCS outside its walls. Importantly, graduation is not the end of a student’s relationship with the school. The LCS community extends far beyond Santo (where LCS is located) and the Office of External Affairs (OEA) is primarily charged with maintaining relationships with alumni as they become the future leaders of Haiti. Specifically, the OEA manages a university scholarship program for alumni, facilitates professional development opportunities, and sources in-kind support for LCS from the Haitian business community.

The Haitian Project understands that LCS alumni need additional support if they are truly going to fulfill the mission of the school and rebuild Haiti. Many of our students are the first in their families to attend university. Thus, when they attempt to navigate the complicated system of Haitian higher education, they are moving into an unknown arena. The OEA offers support and advice to the young alumni, provides job and internship opportunities, and connects young graduates with the networks already formed by older and more experienced alumni. This support is instrumental in helping our graduates make positive decisions that not only benefit themselves, but most importantly, Haiti.

Partly due to the success of our graduates, the local Haitian business community continues to be a major supporter of the school. LCS can persuasively argue that donations of rice, sugar, and other goods will help produce superior future doctors, agronomists, accountants, and engineers for Haiti. History has shown that these are not empty words, as more than 90 percent of LCS graduates with university degrees are currently employed and working to rebuild Haiti.

Théony Deshommes (LCS '03) is in his sixth year of medical school and resides on campus to assist with the school and neighborhood's first-aid needs. 

Théony Deshommes (LCS ‘03) is an excellent example of an LCS graduate who is committed to remaining in Haiti and rebuilding the country. Théony is currently in his 6^th year of medical school and will graduate in summer 2012. He is a recipient of an OEA managed university scholarship funded by a local Haitian businessman who has been a supporter of LCS for years. Théony currently resides at LCS and offers medical care to the students in the evenings. As Théony reflected, “I understand the importance of having more doctors in Haiti because when I was a child I used to be sick a lot. I have learned at LCS to ‘give freely what you have received for free,’ and I plan to continue using my medical skills to help others like I was helped.”

Economic growth and job opportunities are essential for rebuilding Haiti, and THP/LCS is proud to support local entrepreneurs by providing high-quality employees in the form of its graduates. The importance of employment cannot be overstated, as a job is the first opportunity to be a leader for change in the greater community of Haiti. With the help of the OEA, 2010 LCS graduate Manasse Gilles, recently found a job at a call center that handles outsourced billing for dental offices in the U.S. Few of these call centers currently exist in Haiti, but Haiti’s low cost of labor and proximity to the U.S. makes outsourcing a potential avenue of economic growth. Manasse has impressed his employer with his English skills, sense of responsibility, and commitment, and he has a bright future at the company. Manasse is also in university and attends accounting classes in the evenings after work. As Manasse reflected, “This job allows me to practice my English every day and to get involved a bit in the United States’ culture. As we say at LCS, a Louverture Cleary education can change a life; and through that life, a thousand more.”

Simply put, graduation is not an end for LCS students but rather another step on the long road to rebuilding Haiti.