Funeral Tribute from St Catharine's School
Created by kip 8 years agoIN MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED FOUNDING PRINCIPAL, MISS BENNETT
Read by A student representative of St. Catharine’s School for Girls
Today we are here to pay tribute to our founding principal, Miss Joyce Bennett. As a girl studying in St. Catharine’s, I would like to show you how much Miss Bennett contributed to our school and how much we are touched by her unfailing enthusiasm for the education of girls in Kwun Tong.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the Hong Kong government established Kwun Tong as an industrial New Town. The job opportunities offered by the factories attracted many underprivileged working class families to live there. It was Miss Bennett’s vision to set up a school which would benefit the girls with academic gifts as well as the girls of a more practical bent. Owing to this, the school’s curriculum strongly emphasized on the practical and the technical aspects.
Miss Bennett told the first cohort of students that St. Catharine’s girls would be “Brave, Gentle and Sincere” as they followed in the model of Catharine who was a scholar and a noble woman martyr of Alexandria. It is this school motto that has motivated many girls, including myself and many of my fellow schoolmates, to strive for excellence in whatever we do, to embrace a positive attitude towards life and to treat others with love.
We have heard so much about Miss Bennett from our teachers, some of whom are old girls of our school, while some others had worked with Miss Bennett when she was the Principal. They all said Miss Bennett loved her students, so much so that she gave underprivileged students hope and chance --- hope to live with dignity and a chance to experience the love of our Saviour. Words like “useless” and “hopeless” had been banished from our vocabulary at St. Catharine’s. Miss Bennett considered every one of the girls useful and hopeful. They are precious in God’s eyes. Even though personally I did not experience Miss Bennett’s leadership of our school first hand, I know that St. Catharine’s will always be her living legacy.
One of the examples which shows Miss Bennett’s vision is her choice of the medium of instruction for our school. At the very beginning, there were oppositions against setting up an English Medium School in Kwun Tong given the huge number of newly arrived immigrants from China living in the district. However, Miss Bennett insisted that an English Medium School must be established. She insisted that even though the girls might not have an affluent family background, St. Catharine’s should give our girls all that the students from the more well-off areas of Hong Kong had. It was such belief that gave hope to students and changed their lives. With a competent level of English, most of our graduates could find good jobs after they graduated. It was the education they had received in St Catharine’s that helped them move upwards in the social ladder at that time.
Such a belief was definitely based on the teaching of Jesus, who loved us so much that he died for us. It was God’s love that made all girls at St. Catharine’s know they are loved and respected for being themselves.
There is no doubt that her departure was a great loss to all of the St. Catharine’s family and the Old Girls who have benefitted from her years of leadership at St. Catharine’s.
As the Bible said,
“Truly I say to you, If a seed of grain does not go into the earth and come to an end, it is still a seed and no more; but through its death it gives much fruit.” (John Chapter 12, Verse 24)
As we gather here to celebrate the life of Miss Bennett today, I hope that everyone will find solace in the knowledge that she had lived a good life, not only for herself, but for so many of her students. Miss Bennett was truly a passionate and dedicated educator who changed the lives of so many of her students!
Miss Bennett, we love you and will miss you! You know your teachings are being carried on, by every girl in St. Catharine’s, including all the 37 of us here, and many others who follow. Thank you.
Read by A student representative of St. Catharine’s School for Girls
Today we are here to pay tribute to our founding principal, Miss Joyce Bennett. As a girl studying in St. Catharine’s, I would like to show you how much Miss Bennett contributed to our school and how much we are touched by her unfailing enthusiasm for the education of girls in Kwun Tong.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the Hong Kong government established Kwun Tong as an industrial New Town. The job opportunities offered by the factories attracted many underprivileged working class families to live there. It was Miss Bennett’s vision to set up a school which would benefit the girls with academic gifts as well as the girls of a more practical bent. Owing to this, the school’s curriculum strongly emphasized on the practical and the technical aspects.
Miss Bennett told the first cohort of students that St. Catharine’s girls would be “Brave, Gentle and Sincere” as they followed in the model of Catharine who was a scholar and a noble woman martyr of Alexandria. It is this school motto that has motivated many girls, including myself and many of my fellow schoolmates, to strive for excellence in whatever we do, to embrace a positive attitude towards life and to treat others with love.
We have heard so much about Miss Bennett from our teachers, some of whom are old girls of our school, while some others had worked with Miss Bennett when she was the Principal. They all said Miss Bennett loved her students, so much so that she gave underprivileged students hope and chance --- hope to live with dignity and a chance to experience the love of our Saviour. Words like “useless” and “hopeless” had been banished from our vocabulary at St. Catharine’s. Miss Bennett considered every one of the girls useful and hopeful. They are precious in God’s eyes. Even though personally I did not experience Miss Bennett’s leadership of our school first hand, I know that St. Catharine’s will always be her living legacy.
One of the examples which shows Miss Bennett’s vision is her choice of the medium of instruction for our school. At the very beginning, there were oppositions against setting up an English Medium School in Kwun Tong given the huge number of newly arrived immigrants from China living in the district. However, Miss Bennett insisted that an English Medium School must be established. She insisted that even though the girls might not have an affluent family background, St. Catharine’s should give our girls all that the students from the more well-off areas of Hong Kong had. It was such belief that gave hope to students and changed their lives. With a competent level of English, most of our graduates could find good jobs after they graduated. It was the education they had received in St Catharine’s that helped them move upwards in the social ladder at that time.
Such a belief was definitely based on the teaching of Jesus, who loved us so much that he died for us. It was God’s love that made all girls at St. Catharine’s know they are loved and respected for being themselves.
There is no doubt that her departure was a great loss to all of the St. Catharine’s family and the Old Girls who have benefitted from her years of leadership at St. Catharine’s.
As the Bible said,
“Truly I say to you, If a seed of grain does not go into the earth and come to an end, it is still a seed and no more; but through its death it gives much fruit.” (John Chapter 12, Verse 24)
As we gather here to celebrate the life of Miss Bennett today, I hope that everyone will find solace in the knowledge that she had lived a good life, not only for herself, but for so many of her students. Miss Bennett was truly a passionate and dedicated educator who changed the lives of so many of her students!
Miss Bennett, we love you and will miss you! You know your teachings are being carried on, by every girl in St. Catharine’s, including all the 37 of us here, and many others who follow. Thank you.