| Meet the Executive Staff of CLA |
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| Rev. Rudy Poettcker pictured with his wife Sharilyn, is the Headmaster of CLA. He came to Suriname in 1994 first as a teacher and helper, then as Assistant Headmaster, and finally as Headmaster. In addition to the function as Headmaster, Rev. Poettcker also serves as co-pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Paramaribo (which is a member of the Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church). |
Rev. Asgar Hamid met his wife Nirmala (pictured with their daughter Elizabeth) when they were both students at Christian Liberty Academy. At the time, he intended to become an airline pilot but God changed his mind after he began working at the school as an administrative trainee. Graduating from that position to teacher while continuing to grow in his administrative responsibilities, he is now the Administrator of the school. Along with serving at the school, he also has been in seminary studies and was ordained in 2002 and called to be pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Paramaribo, which meets at the school chapel. Nirmala also works for the school as the bookkeeper. |
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Rev. Geoffrey Donnan, pictured here with his wife Nancy, was the founder of the school in 1979. He and his found both taught and administrated the school from the years of 1979-1986. He remained Headmaster of the school from 1986 to 2004, when he relinquished his responsibilities to Rev. Rudy Poettcker. He serves as Headmaster Emritus, and also is the Chairman of the Board of the Stichting: Caribbean Christian Ministries (a non-profit foundation registered in Suriname --#89) which oversees the school. Among other responsibilities he has with the school are that of overseeing the funding of rhe rebuilding after the 2003 fire. He is also at present, the webmaster for this website. He and his wife presently reside in Fellsmere, Florida where he is the Executive Director of Reformaton Christian Ministries, an offshoot of the ministry begun in Suriname. He also is co-pastor of The King's Reformed Presbyterian Church in Palm Bay, Florida.
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| A Tour of the Facilities |
| The main office building. |
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| This is our main school building (newly built after a 2003 fire destroyed our old building--click here to our fire report and rebuilding process). It houses our administrative offices, library, chapel, a number of classrooms and the residence for the headmaster and some single teachers. |
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| Main building from different angle. The first story in the front is for chapel and the back for garage, maintenance and library facilities as well as some classrooms. |
From Loorweg, the small street that divides our school campus, this view gives some perspective of its size. The second story back portion provides residence for the headmaster and some single teachers. Toward the front is the living room area of the residence along with its balcony. The opposite side of the building on the second floor mainly composed of classrooms and the headmaster's office. |
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| The back portion of the building from Loorweg shows the garage and maintenance area below and a balcony for the residences above. We chose not to have any living quarters above the garage area, and to have a concrete floor for its roof because the fire that destroyed the previous building was started by someone under the headmaster's truck and spread to the building next to which it was parked. This garage is secure and can be accessed from a stairway on the balcony. |
Side street (Loorweg) that divides our two campus properties. |
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| Another view from side street our other campus. Note the jogging trail which goes around it in the foreground. |
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| Cars picking up students students after school. Picture taken from the balcony of the new building looking across the small street (Loorweg) that divides the school two properties. |
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| Let's go inside the main building and see what goes on there. |
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As you enter the building through very secure doors, there is a waiting room just to the right of the sign you see saying "OFFICE". The door just behind the office sign is to the office directly. Straight ahead is the library and back of the building classrooms. To the left are the doors into the chapel which also serves as the place of worship for First Presbyterian Church of Paramaribo. |
Inside the office the school secretary attends to several students and teachers needing various things. The new cabinets are those completed by two Canadian volunteers who came down for several months, one of which returned again later in 2004 and plans on staying for about a year, we hope more. He has an interest in one of our single teachers. |
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| After about one year of use, we rearranged the secretary's office so that students would remain outside a window for security purposes. |
The school secretary is Mrs. Marina Wong Loi Sing, working at her computer. |
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Once into the main office, there are additional side offices for the Administrator and Headmaster as well as the bookkeeper/accountant. Above is the office of Rev. Asgar Hamid, Administrator for the school as well as pastor for the First Presbyterian Church. |
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One of the classes studying here in the first floor of the building is the English as Second Language (ESL) class directed in this case by Mrs. Sharilyn Poettcker, seen in the very back of the class working with a student. Most of the ESL students come from other countries and speak no English when they arrive. Our approach is to immerse them in English in the classes and then provide a special class for them where they concentrate on quick English acquisition. They are generally quite capable in English within 6 months and generally up to their norm within a year, two at the most. |
The chapel is used regularly by various age groups of the elementary and secondary school. |
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| Students and teachers gathered for graduation, June 2004 |
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| Students are here seen taking the first semester exams at the end of the first 2004 semester. Teachers in back monitor to discourage cheating. |
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| Mr. Hassen proctoring tests. |
Rev. Poettcker proctoring tests. |
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| The chapel is used for tests, because it is easy to give a large number of tests in a well monitored situation. School policies require objectiving in the monitoring which means that those besides the teachers of the class are used to monitor these important examinations. It also provides a much better scenario to avoid cheating, something not uncommon in students whose parents require them to do well in school. |
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| Parents & students gather for graduation ceremonies |
Valedictorian for 2005 |
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Presentation of diplomas to some of the 2005 seniors |
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Graduating Class of 2005 |
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| Rev. Poettcker poses with the Class of 2005 |
Class of 2005 posing with some teachers and staff |
This page will be continued as soon as additional time and pictures are available. Please come back soon. Let us know what you think of our website and what we can do to improve it. Send comments to Rev. Geoffrey Donnan.
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