A proclamation full of memories starring teachers from the CEIP Maspalomas I

 

PROGRAM: SAN FERNANDO FESTIVITIES 2024 HERE

 

The San Fernando de Maspalomas Festival, organized by the Department of Celebrations and Events of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana town hall, kicked off with a proclamation full of memories, experiences and personal stories starring former teachers from the CEIP San Fernando of Maspalomas (Maspalomas I) experienced during its 50 years of history. The first school center in the south of Gran Canaria, which came into operation in the 1973/1974 school year, initially welcomed 650 students from unconnected urban centers far from San Fernando, educating the children of fishermen, farmers and sharecroppers who attended. to classes “with a desire to learn and with infinite curiosity,” said Maria del Carmen Alejo, a former teacher at the center, who retired in 2013. 

 

The proclamation was made through a video testimony where the teachers Natividad Cabrera, María del Carmen Alejo, Teresita Ramírez, María del Pilar Fernández, María Guayarmina Godoy together with the current director, Germán Silva; They recalled the history of the center, the growth of its students, the close bond that the school community created with the San Fernando Festival or how multiculturalism has always been key in the training of students since “also now, the 51% of our students are foreigners,” said Teresita. The teachers reviewed the multicultural catwalk that has been held at the center, where each nationality "brought clothing or foods representative of their country." 

 

The school's relationship with the San Fernando Festival has been very close throughout history because, for many years, a beach bar was installed in the outdoor parking lot to serve food and drinks where all the proceeds were destined to cover the trip of End of Course for students completing 8th year of EGB. “This beach bar was not simply a fundraiser, it served as a meeting place for the entire educational community. There, fathers, mothers, teachers and students worked for a common goal, and it served to relate to each other in a more relaxed way; In addition, it allowed them to get to know the students in another environment before traveling with them, because at first what seemed like a student with no interests became another person when interacting while serving tables or at the bars,” Alejo highlighted. The first trip and pilot test was to Tenerife and then, the former director Luis Cid, dared to jump to the Peninsula. The teachers pointed out that the trip “is a great responsibility,” so much so that some, like in the case of María del Pilar, “tried it once and then no more, because I had a migraine all week just from the stress that comes with taking on the responsibility.” to take care of so many minors.” 

 

The most emotional moment came when the teachers responded to the question of “what do you think you and Colegio Maspalomas I represent for society?” to which the current director responded “they are the roots of San Fernando, they have only trained students, they have created society. We have reached 50 years and not everyone can say the same.” When asked “what memories do you have of the time?”, they indicated “the desire and enthusiasm, the involvement of everyone, in the Canary Islands Day with Sancocho, the Christmas meals, the enormous Nativity scenes that we created together. the educational community or those grandparents who brought their goats to teach how to milk and make cheese when the occasion demanded it.” 

 

A turning point experienced in the center was the division of the center to see the birth of Maspalomas III. This division was made to, on the one hand, accommodate the students of the Institute who were then receiving classes in classrooms/offices at Yumbo. What was a solution in principle, meant a “trauma” for the EGB students because the students who had studied together since the first years were forced to move to a new adjoining center but separated by “bars” which made that "the children looked for each other through that fence, they passed the ball from one school to the other, they sought contact and play with their former teammate now located in another center separated only by a fence."

 

As milestones of what was achieved, they highlighted being the first education center that managed to apply the continuous schedule "the distances between the places of residence and the school made it impossible for the children to have time to travel from the center to home, eat and return ”, and also being the first to allow co-education “centers that allowed boys and girls to coexist in the classrooms”, all of this, they indicated, as a result of the work carried out by the now deceased former director, Luis Ocaña. 

 

Finally, there was no shortage of words for the non-teaching staff of the Center such as the cleaners or 'Tato' “the great achiever”, the Administration staff... who participated in the teaching work, contributing “a lot of love to the entire community.” To conclude the event, the mayor of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Marco Aurelio Pérez; and the Councilor for Celebrations and Events, Yilenia Vega, presented a commemorative square to all the teachers participating in this proclamation, as well as another one collected by the current director of the Center, in recognition of these 50 years of education, training and creation of society".