Entertainer, Wendy Alleyne, interacting with first formers, Kenya Straker and Athalya Burnett during her visit to her alma mater, Grantley Adams Memorial School yesterday.
ALL ABOUT RESPECT
Tue, 11/22/2016 - 12:00am
By:
By Marsha Gittens
Respect yourself and the rest of the world will respect you.
This was one of the pieces of advice entertainer, Wendy Alleyne, shared with the pupils of the Grantley Adams Memorial School.
Alleyne is a former student of the Blackman’s, St. Joseph educational institution. Yesterday, she gave a special performance of hits, ‘Stand By Love’ and ‘Have A Thing About You’, which were enjoyed by pupils and staff present in the school’s hall. She was joined at the school by her bass player, David Oliver, who is also a past student.
“Education is your foundation to your future. So whatever you can grasp when you are in school, do it and do it to the best of your ability, because when you move on from school that is what you are going to build on to move on to be millionaires and billionaires, prime ministers, doctors, lawyers, singers [or] whatever you want to be,” she stated.
“To the ladies out there, my big thing is respect. If you respect yourself, the world will respect you in return. My saying is, ‘they don’t have to like me. I don’t care if they like me, but they sure will respect me’. Once you have respect, you can go out there and people will do you any favours. So ladies respect yourself and the rest of the world will respect you,” she continued.
Speaking to the media following her performance, Alleyne shared her surprise that the students knew her songs and sang along with her, while explaining why she emphasised that students, particularly the females, should respect themselves.
“I don’t spend a lot of time in Barbados but when I come back and I see them, skinning out, and spreading out and carrying on, I don’t think they have to do that because Barbados is full of beautiful women. If they respect themselves, they can dance and carry on, but the things that they do, they don’t have to. Some of them take it too far and they are very young. ... I think that if they respect themselves and I prove it time and time again, if you respect yourself the rest of the world respects you,” she maintained.
Principal, Dennis Browne described the visit as “a proud moment” at the school. He pointed out that having both Alleyne and Oliver visit and address the students is a timely reminder to them that like them, they too can be successful.