Saint Mary's College (Saint Lucia)

St. Mary's College
Information
Motto	Summum Attingitur Nitendo
Established	1890
Principal	Mr. Rowan Seon
Campus	Vigie, Castries, St Lucia

Saint Mary's College is an all-male Catholic secondary school located at Vigie, Saint Lucia in the Caribbean. The school is the only St. Lucian secondary school to have produced a Nobel Laureate, producing the island's two Nobel laureates: Sir William Arthur Lewis and Derek Alton Walcott. The jurist and politician Sir Vincent Floissac was also a pupil at the School, as was the former Prime Minister of St. Lucia (Sir John George Melvin Compton) and St.Lucia’s former Ambassador to the United Nations (Honorable George William Odlum).

St. Mary's College was formally opened on 20 April 1890, three weeks after the first lessons had been given in the building. The school opened with a mere 27 boys on roll ranging from age 6 years to 15 years in the now Parish Center on Micoud Street, Castries . The first headmaster, Mr. F.E. Bundy, received his training as a teacher at the "St. Mary's College for Teachers," Hammersmith, England. His only assistant at first, was Mr. O'Neil Traynor.

The first days at the college were full of difficulties for the teachers. The number of boys on roll, by the end of 1890, had risen to 35. Of that number, a few spoke fluent English, some understood it but couldn't hold a fluent conversation. Others spoke French and the rest patois (French-based creole). It was really surprising that the masters were able to do as much as they did then with the material they had. Fights were frequent and broken windows an everyday occurrence.

At the end of 1890, the College was in debt to the tune of €385, over €90 of which had been incurred since the College opened. To assist in writing off the debt, the F.M.I fathers gave €75 to the college. A handsome contribution in those days. In 1893, the College began receiving a "Grant-In-Aid" from the government on the condition that 10 pupils receive science scholarships from elementary schools on the results of an examination.

Until 1895, students never sat any public exams, but this soon changed with the appointment of Mr. H.J. Meagher as headmaster. In December of that year, two students, Cecil and Garnet Garnaway were entered in the Cambridge preliminary local Examination which they sat in Barbados because there was no centre in St. Lucia.

In December of the following year, a Cambridge Local Examination Centre was established at the college. At the end of 1898, the number of boys on roll was 53, the average attendance being 47. At that time the holidays were 6 weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks at midsummer and 2 weeks at Easter. The fees were from 3 to 6 guineas per annum payable in advance. There was also an arrangement by which the younger brother paid less.

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