CAMBRIDGE ACADEMY IS 72-YEARS OLD.
HELLO Fellow alumni and friends, welcome to our March 2022 editorial of the monthly Website and Facebook message. 2021 was an active year for CAAAI in spite of the ravages of the Covid Virus, our Executive Board and membership body rose to every challenge to keep the Alumni Association united, coherent, focused, and involved in virtual events such as Sip-&-Chat, three Prayer Warrior sessions, and significant support to the Nehemiah school, establishing Sub-committees with broader authority, reconstructing the alumni’s Website, increased donations, and trimmed our expenses, among others.
We are now in the third month of 2022, and our membership body has yet another milestone to be proud of, one that we must celebrate joyfully and in reverence, as 2022 marks 72-years since our hero, founder, and Principal, Robert A. Pinkerton started the school on nothing but faith, imagination, and determination.
Too often, the story of good and well intentioned men and women is left untold. In 1950, ‘Pinkie’ had a vision to provide reasonably priced education to young boys and girls from financially challenged homes, that is to say, the vast majority of us who did not qualify for one reason or another for the ‘A’ schools, QC, Bishops, and St. Stanislaus.
The journey toward the outcome of his dream, in my opinion, could not have been easy in a Colonial 1950, when school systems were intended to mirror and sustain the social and educational inequities of the times. He must have faced levels of discrimination and prejudice, no real financial support, and days of just feeling like giving up; but his religiosity, benevolence, and tenacity were bigger than those obstacles placed before him.
As Robert A. Pinkerton’s dream started to developed, and his pragmatism paralleled with reality, there was a building in South Road, Georgetown Guyana, and subsequently one in Charlotte street that physically represented his aspirations, plans, and his success. For many of us, in those buildings he transformed education from dreams to reality, from out-of-reach to reachable, from destitution to hope, from possible education abandonment to learned, smart, and productive citizens, like you and me. Out of those two relatively small house-like structures in which he divided into classrooms, and named them Cambridge Academy one and two, came medical doctors, PhDs, Dentists, lawyers, police officers, nurses, teachers, accountants, scientists, insurance agents, pastors, plumbers, clerks, administrators, managers, supervisors, bankers, politicians, business owners, and many other important walks of life.
We Cambridgeites, are the living and sustainable proof of Mr. Pinkerton’s dream and journey, we are the results of one man’s innovative passion to educate his fellow Guyanese, one man according to Dr. Frank Douglas, world renowned scientist and celebrated author who said “…Mr. Pinkerton, took a chance on him.” The honest truth is, Mr. Pinkerton took a chance on all of us, which led to good, decent, and effective Cambridge alums all over the world. Thank you Mr. Pinkerton, your 72-years contribution to education and humanity was not in vain.
Please remember to stay in contact with your alumni association for the latest news, articles, and events. Help to advance Mr. Pinkerton’s legacy of ‘giving back’, through the goals and objectives of CAAAI. If you wish to join a committee, or just share a thought, send us an email
Submitted by,
Dr. Aubrey F. Bentham, President-CAAAI
