Cornwall College mourns beloved Spanish teacher
Published:Tuesday | April 9, 2024 | 12:11 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Students of Cornwall College will return to school today for grief counselling after classes were suspended on Monday following the death of Spanish teacher Kamika Warren on the weekend.
The 41-year-old Warren, a senior teacher who headed the Spanish Department at the Montego Bay, St James-based boys’ school, had been fighting undisclosed medical issues.
She died on Sunday, hours after she was admitted to the Cornwall Regional Hospital on Saturday after reportedly experiencing difficulty breathing.
Principal Michael Ellis said grief support for the approximately 1,300 students at the 128-year-old school will be facilitated today.
“Come [Tuesday] morning, the students will be here and it is not going to be business as usual, but we are going to use the morning session to treat them because they, too, are affected,” Ellis said during a grief counselling session for staff members at the school’s chapel yesterday.
“For the afternoon session, we will try to see how normal we can be,” the principal said, while giving thanks for the life that Warren lived.
“I thank God for the life and work of Ms Warren. I thank God for the contribution that she made to Cornwall College, Mount Alvernia High School, and even before that, she taught mathematics at Montego Bay High School and at Cambridge High School, so she would have done her job,” said Ellis.
Vice Principal Lecia Allen described Warren as a special individual, who loved her students and would go the extra mile for them.
“I knew her from her time at Mount Alvernia High School. She taught my daughter there, so when she joined the staff here, it was just a natural transition that fitted well,” said Allen. “Ms Warren was special, and was never afraid to share her perspectives.
“She is one of the persons who would keep the administration on its feet,” Allen said.
Norman Allen, western regional officer at the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, used Monday’s grief counselling session to call on the nation’s teachers to focus on their health.
“As teachers, we often put everyone and everything at the forefront, even at times when we are hurting. But I want us to recognise that the best thing that we can do for others is to take care of ourselves,” said Allen.
Mount Alvernia High acting Principal Carolin Hume noted that pain of this nature does not heal to the point that you forget.
“We know what it’s like to lose a core member of our staff and our family because while we will move on in some respect, we’ll never heal at 100 per cent,” Hume said. “She was an awesome person and the pain of losing her will come back at times and because of her personality. Nobody else will be able to fill that gap.”