Teacher Appreciation Day Done Island Style

While on vacation in Jamaica recently a small island called Sandals Cay — Sandals Resorts Private Island just off the coast of Sandals Royal Caribbean — got overrun by a rowdy group. No, they weren’t pirates but individuals who have chosen to give away the wealth of knowledge instead – teachers. Teacher Appreciation Week is a week-long celebration in the United States observed the first full week in May. However, we found out last week while in Jamaica it is also a global celebration.

Sandals Cay the site of  the annual Teachers's Day Lunch

On May 9, a few Sandals Resorts in Jamaica (Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, Negril and Whitehouse regions) opened its doors to 49 schools from across the region at this annual event in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Day. Teachers from across Jamaica were recognized for their work in the classroom during this 14th annual Sandals’ Teacher’s Day.

Other Sandals resorts in Jamaica hosted teachers for this special day; however, this blogger and blogger husband happened to be guests at Sandals Royal Caribbean and got to witness the island Teacher Day’s festivities first hand. In the Montego Bay region a lovely surprise awaited more than 80 teachers who were whisked away by boat to Sandals Cay for a Teacher's Day luncheon. Several parishes from the surrounding area were in attendance. At the island, teachers were provided with a free buffet and live entertainment as well as engaged the teachers in resort activities and awarded them with additional prizes.

From the beach we could hear a roll call of the different schools take place followed by an echo of laughter. Institutions of all sizes were represented. One school only had two representatives in attendance. The Jamaica School of the Deaf was also among the roll call participants. A live Reggae band belted out tunes for the teachers and other island guests to enjoy. Some teachers garnered door prizes by being lucky enough to sit at a chair with a sticker. As we walked by the luncheon area teachers were smiling ear from ear, too.

Back at the mainland, the Sandals Cay Island was still rocking. At Sandals Royal Caribbean, I kept hearing people ask what was going on at the island and Sandals staff would tell guests it was a Teacher Appreciation Day event for parish teachers. We felt very honored we got to share in the festivities in observance of Teacher’s Day 2012, as well as see a few Jamaican teachers get honored for their hard work in the classroom in molding young minds.

- population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown 

© 2012 population-we, LLC

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