The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) has embarked on a journey to promote carnival and our culture within our local elementary schools as preparations for Carnival 2011 continues. President of the SCDF Stuart Johnson visited three elementary schools namely, Leonard Connor Primary School, St. Dominic Primary School, and the Sister Borgia Elementary School.
The students were explained about the history of carnival, discussed various terminologies relating to the celebration, as well as the importance of participating in our largest cultural event. Some students were never exposed to the festivities and bringing into it the classroom shows them what it is all about.
Students were able to try on a head piece of a locally made costume and see a variety of materials which are used for the making of carnival costumes.
At the end of the discussion, the students actively engaged in several activities such the designing of a carnival mask, a carnival word puzzle, and coloring pages. On hand were also past special Carnival editions of The Daily Herald as well as several carnival magazines for information reference.
Johnson on behalf of the SCDF, who is an educator by profession, treated each student with carnival beads, as a token of their active and lively participation during his visit. The SCDF has already set in motion plans to continue this initial venture for the Carnival 2012 celebrations, by visiting all schools. The development of Carnival is an ongoing process and it starts with the younger generation, that’s why besides the outline of our carnival, the students were urged not to fight or misuse the events for any violent activity.
A full pictorial of the school tour 2011 can be viewed on the SCDF Facebook page which can be found by searching "St. Maarten Carnival."