"Roof Wetting" ceremony at USM on Monday
The University of St. Martin (USM) will be celebrating the "Roof Wetting" on Monday, September 8 at 5:00pm for the second floor of the current building.
This floor is expected to be in use at USM by the January 2009 semester but the "Roof Wetting" ceremony is symbolic that the highest point in the construction has been reached.
USMâ??s buildings have withstood many set-backs over the years, facing hurricane devastation, flooding, contractor changes and funding problems. But todayâ??s news is that the set-backs are over and USM is on its way. With generous donations made by the community and with some funding from USONA, USM is now able to celebrate significant progress on the building of the second floor of the current facility.
The Building Committee, consisting of Mrs. Valerie Giterson-Pantophlet, Mr. Danny Ramchandani, Mr. Norman Wathey and the Project Engineer, Mr. Joseph Johnson have worked tirelessly to make sure that USM achieves its building goals. These individuals donate their time and expertise to USM in an entirely volunteer effort. The faculty, staff and especially the students of USM are grateful for these efforts.
"It has been wonderful to support USMâ??s growth. Working with Betonbouw and Mr.Rene Setz has already proved to be a great relationship for USM as they have rapidly responded with tremendous effort," said volunteer Project Engineer Joseph Johnson.
Mrs. Valerie Giterson-Pantophlet, Chair of the Building Committee, committed and dedicated to the realization of this project and who championed the establishment of USM as the then Commissioner of Education in 1989, is still realizing the dream, while "thanking staff, faculty, and students for their patience and confidence in USM during this development phase."
Other persons whose efforts have assisting in realizing this accomplishment include, Mr. Danny Ramchandani, the Vice-Chair of the Building Committee and Chair of the Fundraising Committee, whose expertise in fundraising skills have helped to bring USM to this moment. Also, Mr. Jan Welage, an advisor to the Building Committee was the former Building Committee Chair whose original input continues to be appreciated from overseas.
The second floor space will provide three large new classrooms and several small classroom spaces as well as much needed office space for Faculty and Academic Programs.
"With the acquisition of this additional space, we can now begin to accomplish many of the objectives we have set for USM. USM will now be able to convert one of its classrooms into the temporary library for USM as early as January 2009. A library is much needed as we approach accreditation and will provide additional learning resources for our students," Dr. Lockie Johnson, President of the Board of USM indicated.
"Our new space will allow us to provide more quality to the academic programs at USM. The faculty will at long last have space from which to work and meet students. USM is now coming closer to its goal of being an established and strong presence in shaping the future of Country St. Maarten," Johnson noted.
All members of the press and the community are invited for this momentous event on Monday, September 8th 2008.