Selwyn College unveils Golden Jubilee event

SELWYN College has unveiled its Golden Jubilee celebration with the theme ‘Celebrating the Past, Building our Future’.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade Hon. Jeremiah Manele launched the celebration during a church service in Honiara on Sunday afternoon.

Hon. Manele, who is a former student of Selwyn College and taught briefly at the school, was happy to be part of the launching ceremony.

He used the occasion to also appeals to all former students to support effort toward the celebration scheduled for late September 2021.

All former students will be conducting fundraising activities in their four divisional groups of Kirio, Masi, Noabu and Tahula culminating in the September Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Masi members preparing refreshments after the launching
Guests cutting the Golden Jubilee cake

Hon. Manele who is a member of MASI division also appeals to all former students to support the Golden Jubilee Committee and the Selwyn College Old Scholars Association (SOSA) in their planning of the jubilee celebrations.

During the launching service, preacher and former Chaplain of Selwyn College, Fr. Philemon Akao said SOSA is not just a group but a ‘way of life’.

He also appeals to all former and current Selwyn College staff, students and supporters to take pride in SOSA and be part of it as a way of life and service to God and Solomon Islands.

Fr. Philemon Akao says SOSA is a way of life

The keynote speaker during the launching service Dr. David Welchman Gegeo said he was elated to be back and reconnect with former classmates and friends.

As a pioneer student of Selwyn College from 1970 to 1972, Dr. David said he owed it the school for what he has achieved in his academic career.

Some former students with a young man after the launching

He recalled how his poetry and writings published in a Selwyn College school magazine that somehow made its way into the University of Massachusetts library, which proved to be his ticket for admission into the Bachelor of Arts programme.

“The university wanted some proof of what I was taught in high school and the highest level of secondary school I had completed in Solomon Islands, so my writings allowed my admission into the university.”

Dr. David had a stint in radio broadcasting with the then Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service (SIBS) after leaving Selwyn College and was sent to study music in USA. It was when he was studying music that he developed an interest to pursue further studies.

He returned and resigned from SIBS before going back to continue his studies in the US where he eventually graduated with a B.A in Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology (University of Massachusetts), an M.S in Mass Communications and Public Relations (Boston University) and a PhD in Political Science and Political Philosophy (University of Hawai’i).

“I’m a living witness to what Selwyn College can offer,” Dr. David told SOSA members and Selwyn College choir who was part of the launching service.

Meanwhile, members of the SOSA executive, Golden Jubilee Committee and divisional heads were commissioned by chief celebrant Fr. Michael Palmer during the launching service. Chairman of the Golden Jubilee Robert Iroga said Selwyn College Golden Jubilee will be celebrated from September 24th to October 3rd, 2021

SOSA leaders and Golden Jubilee committee members in their meeting hosted by Governor General His Excellency Sir David Vunagi and Lady Mary

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