GEL continues to give back

A group of fifth formers from Parkinson Secondary School recently went on early school break with valuable lessons on the topic of respect that should serve them well for life, but especially now, during what can be a trying time due to the COVID 19 lock down.

Mrs. Laurin Whittaker, Corporate Administrator of Goddard Enterprises Limited (GEL) led them in an interactive session at the school on respect, which explained, with interesting scenarios, the relationship between self-love and respect.

When questioned about the people whom they thought were worthy of respect, they mentioned parents, guardians, friends and people in authority. The students discussed how they would treat people that displayed unacceptable behaviour and interact with persons who may have fallen on difficult times.

In response, Mrs Whittaker advised the students that respect should be extended to everyone ‘just because they existed’, pointing out that they should not see it as something only due to people of a certain financial and social status.

Attended by 30 students including three boys, the session, which was held at the school was part of the company’s outreach to highlight women following International Women’s Day 2020.

The discussion also highlighted self-respect, as the students sought to define it as a theory and in a practical sense. They highlighted good manners, cleanliness, the use of language, the type of clothes worn and how they behaved in various settings.

Mrs Whittaker explained that the need to love themselves, to develop wholesome relationships and strive to have high self-esteem are all a part of self-respect.

The hour-long activity ended with a discussion session centred around a letter from a sixteen-year old girl to agony aunt, newspaper columnist, Dear Christine. The children were led into an examination of self-respect and respect for others shown by the subjects in the letter after which they explored what were the correct behaviours which should have been displayed.

At the end of the session, students were each given care packages with a variety of products as a token from the staff at GEL.

The session was part of an ongoing programme with Goddard Enterprises Ltd which has adopted the Parkinson School and works with the school and children in different areas. To date, members of the GEL staff have painted areas of the school, initiated a summer internship at the subsidiaries of thecompany among other activities.

Last year, to commemorate International Women’s Day, the company presented a series of books written by female Barbadian and Caribbean authors which were placed in the school’s library after the West Indian section of the library had been destroyed by fire a few years ago.