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2012 Convention | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Minutes of the 14th EES/EHS Convention 2012 The fourteenth Episcopal High School Reunion was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota August 31 –September 2, 2012. The meeting was held at Saint Andrew Episcopal Church in North Minneapolis. The National President Mr. Samuel Abdullai presided. Father Roger Sonnesyn welcomed alumni and said opening prayer. The President welcomed all to Minnesota. The school Ode was sung and the agenda adopted. State of AffairsThe president:
2012 minutes read; William Passawe motioned to accept minutes and open for addition or corrections. Sando Jones seconded. Corrections/omissionsDr. Arnold Hill pledged and paid $1000.00 at the 2011 ball in Houston, Texas. The Treasurer request this information be in the 2011 minutes and form part of the archive. ReportsTreasurer:
A mini rally was held. The following persons donated:
Total realized $3,140.00. $2,050 in pledges, $750.00 checks and $370.00.cash. Pledge payments to be made by end of March 2013. Membership Initiative/Concerns WelfareA detailed list of alumni, and relatives (23) who have journeyed to the other side was read by Dr. Robert Sherman. Project/ ReconstructionWilliam Sherman gave a detailed PowerPpoint report.
The afternoon session started with updates on Grand Cape Mount Organization--Dr. Henry Fahnbulleh encouraged everyone to be a part because we are on the same path. Dr. Diggs was recognized by Feweh Sherman for being supportive. The first payment towards teacher's salary was made from donation from his church – St George’s Episcopal Church, Tennessee. Dr. Diggs’ response “If it was not for Saint Johns, I won’t be where I am." Venue for the next convention 2013 will be in Atlanta, Georgia. Two proposals were submitted to the body by the Executive Board. Proposal passed:
Report Highlights, LiberiaDr. Eugene Shannon, president of the Board of Directors EES/EHS Alumni in Liberia, gave a detailed PowerPoint update that included the 2012 graduation ceremony of St. John, Robertsport.
The president thanked Dr. Shannon for this detailed report. New Business
Vote of thanks given by the Vice President Lawrence Morgan. Meeting adjourned at 1:50pm Respectfully Submitted, National President’s Remarks on the Status of EHS-EES Alumni Affairs 2012
We find our association today in a period of transformational leadership... building on the foundation laid by previous administration to auger a change that will take us from where we are today to where we have never been. It is not an easy task, but if you work with us sincerely and committedly we will succeed. It is our desire and goal to initiate change in how we run the association and we know that if we are not transforming our association to reflect change, then we are administrators or caretakers and not leaders. Caretaker/administrators we do not intend to be but rather leaders who request that you work with us so that we can take this association from where we are today to where we have never been before. We do not want to be an organization with no information or ill information to our members but rather a transparent and trusworthy group who have total access to all transactions of the association through its membership and officers. To achieve this, we intent to promote the total and frequent use of the “net” or internet by our membership not only for information but as a means of spreading the news and soliciting assistance on behalf of the association. Up front be warned, that while the use of the internet is easy and fun it can also be tempteous and dangerous and requires trust and sincerity. Anyone with access to the internet, which is just about everywhere-can chat and do business with anyone on the planet, in real-time. So as we employ methods in our relationships(member & members and officers), it is imperative that we use Agility...robustness...nimbleness and total flexibility and this is our request to you for this transformational leadership period. Transformational as we are just concluding our first annual term and transformational as we attempt to promote change in everything we do together to take us to a point in our existent where we have never been; that really is what all the talk about transformational leadership is. As will be reflected in our financial standing later by the treasurer and our completed and ongoing projects by the Project Chairman, we are doing fairly well with the support you have given but kindly request that you do moreduring our 2nd annual term.The financial strength of the association is reflecting weak and needs uplifting. Our projects are many both short and long term ones… Those we have implemented this year will leave a strain on our financial standing. However if we all do things straight and right now, we will be positioned for good in the future: In this light I am recommending that you carefully peruse the recommendation that we have handed outto you today, so that you can be in the position to vote for a change in our financial obligations to start our change of moving to where we have never been before. For this, I kindly solicit your genuine and sincere consideration. We have also distributed a sign in sheet that this time around should be considered very important and an instrument to tap into our capabilities as members of this association. It is important that you fill the sheet appropiately and turn it in to the secretary or any of the executives of the association. The information on those handouts, will give us the kind of information we needto give every member the power, authority and opportunity to be a transformational partner in his/her own right/rank. We want to be able to utilize the talent and intelligence of our members to work with us to make the transition from where we are today to where we have never been. A famous U.S.General, D Eisenhower, once said and I quote ” I’d rather have one person working with me than a hundred working for me." And I promise you we are all working for the association and with me not for me for the good of the association. A team is stronger than any individual member. If you discard all the ill information about the leadership before and now; factionalized membership and their related support or no support; and you think; remember and give for Liberia and not for any political sub division or tribe; and perhaps most importantly work with us to develop and foster a culture of receptiveness to change, good ethics, honesty and integrity, we can be instruments of genuine and great success in rebuilding the broken institutions back home for our brother and sister and our country Liberia. Officers, members; guests; honorable ladies and gentlemen, we wish you fruitful deliberations today and a joyous and wonderful 2012 convention in Minnesota. Thank You….Thank you…. and I wish you all well and an enjoyable stay in Minnesota. Sam Abdullai Guest Speaker Mohamedu F. Jones
It is an honor to serve as your guest speaker during this Convention of 2013. Although, I only attended first grade at Episcopal Elementary School, EES-EHS has nonetheless played a central role in my life. Indeed, my connection to EES-EHS is life-long. Actually, it even began before my birth. It is vertical in the form of ancestral connections through my parents; both of whom, M. Fahnbulleh Jones and Alliette Benson Jones, were graduates. This connection is also lateral or horizontal in the form of my marital relationship. My wife of over three and a half decades, Sando, and her father S. Momolu Kiawu, were likewise graduates. Yes, the educational values of St. John’s and the House of Bethany helped to form how I was brought up through my parents, and what Sando and I passed on to our daughter as we brought her up. Clearly, it seems to me, that if you place the highest significance on what was the best that you received from being a student at your alma mater, the greatest legacy that you can leave is to afford like opportunity to others. If each of you were to make giving of your time, talent, and treasure to St. John’s and the House of Bethany, central themes of your philanthropic and charitable life, you will create opportunities to provide for others what was provided for you: a very good and solid education upon which foundation a student can obtain education at any institution of higher learning anywhere in the world, just like you. When you make a difference in the lives of others, it adds more meaning to your own life; when you help the current students enrolled at your alma mater, you can take personal pride that you are doing something real for your country. You can hold yourself up with a heightened sense of positive self-satisfaction because you are helping to educate those who now attend the school where you received your very good education. In order to do this, each alumnus and alumna must be willing to do more than merely pay registration fees to attend the Convention. If you only register for Convention, your contribution to the school is very minimal at best, if in fact you are making any contribution at all. Registration fees are primarily for the purpose of defraying the costs and expenses of the Convention, not to help the school. When you pay annual dues, while you are contributing at a level where there is some direct benefit to the school, part of annual dues are also used to help defray the expenses of the Association. When you give beyond paying registration fees and annual dues, you are creating the means to have direct impact on the education of the children who now attend your once illustrious alma mater. In making contributions beyond payment of registration fees and annual dues, you are indicating that your Alumni Association means business and you mean business. You must realize that this is serious business and the only way to return St. John’s and Bethany to what you had – an illustrious school is to give within your means. Commitment to the well-being and welfare of the children who now attend your school ought not to depend on whether you can give as much as another member of the Association, nor should you be concerned that others may think what you are giving is “too small,” or that others might think you are bluffing, but instead should be based on what you can afford at the time you make the contribution. I wish to offer that every working member of this Alumni Association should make it their duty to make a tax deductible contribution to your Alumni Association each year in an amount that you can afford, whatever the amount is. You should not only pay your annual dues, but should also register for Convention even in those years when you cannot attend. This is if you are serious and you mean business. This is if your goal is more than coming together and enjoying yourselves each year. This is if you really want to have an impact on the lives of real Liberian children in real time in real ways. Anything short of this is to short change yourself, your Association and your alma mater. Education is the most valuable investment we can make and as you participate in the affairs of the EES-EHS Alumni Association, I call your attention to these wise words.
Sando and I, in order to show we mean business and affirm our commitment to EES-EHS, are contributing $500 to the EES-EHS Wall of Memory in memory of: Eliza B. N. Jones, J. A. H. Jones, Amy Esther Jones, Janet Hoff, M. Fahnbulleh Jones, S. Momolu Kiawu, Alliette Benson Jones, Janet M. Kiawu and Ovetta S. Jones Williams and Dwalu Kiawu. May they always rest in peace. Thank you. Reports from the Conference
Photos and Video of the 2012 Ball
Welcome Photos
Picnic Photos
Convention Day Photos
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Good morning; it is always great to see so many familiar faces and old friends... classmates at this convention. To me, our annual conventions are important because they allow us to inform our membership of failures and successes in the prior business year and also to demonstrate how many people we can operate without. Please accept my sincere thanks and appreciation to you hard core members who continue to participate and live up to you commitment to be with us no matter what the prevailing issues of societyat home and in this foreign land. 
Mr. President, Officers and Members of the Episcopal Elementary School-Episcopal High School Alumni Association, Special Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
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