TEACHER IDOLLYN ADOLPHUS

Elizabeth Pridgeon

Teacher Idollyn Adolphus has, for the past 27 years, dedicated herself to the Ontario Christian School (under the umbrella of Belize Faith Missions), based in the village of Ontario along the Western highway, situated just a few miles west of Belmopan.  For the past seventeen years (of the 27 years total service), Ms Idollyn has been one of the most proactive and productive Principals the school has ever known.

To really understand the dedication that Ms Idollyn has shown, it is necessary first to appreciate the setting in which she works.  Ontario Christian School was the most successful and long-standing project to have been initiated by Rev. Millhollen and his wife when they first came to Belize in 1958.  Their vision was to establish a community that would not only live according to Christian principles, but would actively minister these principles throughout the district too. The Millhollen’s had numerous visions that they fulfilled: firstly, their Church (latterly renamed as the Millhollen Memorial Tabernacle) grew to have one of the biggest congregations in its area; secondly, the residential home they created for elderly members of the community was well patronised and became a leader in its field during its years of existence; and thirdly, the school and former children’s home grew from supporting a handful of adolescents, into being a major player in the district’s educational sector.

Today, Ontario Christian School, under the leadership of Ms Idollyn, educates 386 students between the ages of 3 and 14 years, from a catchment radius spanning between Belmopan and San Ignacio.  While the school continues to be considered as falling beneath the Belize Faith Missions organisation, it is now also part-funded by the Government of Belize, and local fundraisers are also necessary to support in-house initiatives.  Thus projects such as the Feeding Program, created by Ms Idollyn to cater food for the most needy students, are self-funded by weekly “Glad Rag” days, which collects sufficient funds to buy the ingredients and cook the food for the Feeding Program every Tuesday and Thursday.

Ms Idollyn has captured the respect and admiration of hundreds of parents, staff and management officials in her twenty-seven years at the school, through various programs that she has initiated to promote the betterment of the school.  When Ms Idollyn first arrived, the exterior of the school was somewhat drab and dreary, and was housed principally in the church building itself.  Today, the entire school premises are brightly painted and eye-catching to the visitor, which is no small feat now that the school uses nine classrooms and a computer lab.  Furthermore, outside the classrooms is now a well-furnished park for which Ms Idollyn worked hard to acquire the donations of extensive playing facilities including monkey-bars, see-saws, swings and climbing frames.  Another major change that has occurred through Ms Idollyn’s influence is the introduction of a school uniform for pupils of Ontario Christian School, and more importantly the acquisition of donations from congregations in the United States for those children whose families were unable to purchase uniforms.  The safety of the students has always been a principal concern of Ms Idollyn too, and when she saw the opportunity of acquiring a fence around the perimeter of the premises, alongside encouraging the Ministry of Works to create a speed-bump on the road outside, she avidly fought for both, and was successful.  Never one to shy away from applications and proposals, Ms Idollyn can also be credited with acquiring the funding for the plumbing which transformed the former latrines for students’ use.  Another proposal which Ms Idollyn wholeheartedly undertook was to seek funding for a computer lab, and computers to equip the lab; needless to say, Ms Idollyn never leaves a project incomplete, and the school now hosts one of the best 22-computer labs in the district.

Ms Idollyn never anticipated working at the Ontario Christian School, but a chance encounter with the initial founders directed her to a new career and a new life-path – which has proved to be one which Ms Idollyn certainly does not regret.  However, at the end of June, Ms Idollyn will be retiring from her post of Principal at the Ontario Christian School, and she will be sadly missed by students, parents and staff alike.  Following a lifetime’s career in the education sector, however, Ms Idollyn’s retirement will be far from a time to rest and relax, as she has already committed to another administrative job at a primary school in San Ignacio town, where she lives.  After so many years dedicated to children in her care, one might wonder how Ms Idollyn plans to ‘reward’ herself.  Far from it, it seems: Ms Idollyn is a devoted Pentecostal Christian, and she believes that all the blessings the school has received during her term as Principal are a result of God’s blessings, rather than her own hard work and determination.  It can only be concluded that God has indeed blessed Ontario Christian School with a Principal such as Ms Idollyn for so many years, and by extension He has blessed Belize with someone who has so altruistically striven to build a firm basis for the future generations of Belize.  This week’s Belize Times’ Nation Builder is a most deserving Ms Idollyn Adolphus, for her ongoing contributions to the education sector of Belize, and more specifically, in her capacity as Teacher and Principal at Ontario Christian School.

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