Bunting, Dehring & Golding Pledge US$45,000 to Alma Mater


Kingston, Jamaica; July 8, 2010–Campion alumni and founding partners of the groundbreaking investment firm DB&G, Peter Bunting, M.P., Christopher Dehring and Senator Mark Golding, are once more leading the way, this time in the field of education. The trio, represented by Mr. Dehring at Campion’s graduation ceremony held last week, announced that they will donate US$45,000 (J$3.7million) to their alma mater for the renovation of the Integrated Science Lab as part of the school’s Vision 2020 Campaign.
“Campion was at the heart of our educational and professional success and it is here that we developed our lifelong friendship and foundation. We are honoured to be able to make this gift together, so that current and future students will have the support to excel,” said Christopher Dehring, currently the Chairman of LIME Jamaica, in addressing the 400
graduates and 1500 attendees.
The lab, which serves some 700 first to third form students, will be named the Bunting, Dehring & Golding Integrated Science Lab in honour of the three young Campionites that founded and built the investment firm DB&G. Mr. Bunting and Mr. Dehring are members of the graduating class of 1977, while Senator Golding attended Campion from 1976-79
before completing his studies overseas. In 2009, the trio was inducted to the Campion College Alumni Association Hall of Fame for their many individual and joint contributions to business and the public sector.
“The Integrated Science Lab, in particular, provides the foundation for the exploration of the sciences for all our students, many of whom will become Jamaica’s future doctors, nurses and scientists. We are very grateful to Peter, Chris and Mark for their generosity which will allow us to renovate one of four junior science labs that have not been upgraded since they were built 50 years ago,” said Grace Baston, Principal.
The renovation of the junior science labs is one of several projects that the school has identified as high priority in their Vision 2020 Campaign, a fundraising initiative established to support the school’s development plans. “As a public school, the Government is unable to provide any funds for the desperately needed construction and renovation projects on our campus,” said Mrs. Baston. “It is simply amazing that our teachers are able to produce the results that they do with these old labs and very limited library and technology facilities.”
Campion students consistently receive the top CSEC and CAPE grades in the country and, in 2009, Campionites received four of the top five overall scores in the natural sciences at the CAPE level, and four of the top five national scores in Biology, Chemistry and Physics at the CSEC level. On average, 20 Campion graduates are accepted annually to Medical School at the University of the West Indies, and 13 graduates have received the Rhodes Scholarship, with seven in the last seven years. Campionites have also excelled in the sciences overseas, among them Joel Sadler, a member of the team of inventors of the Jaipur Knee, which was named one of the Top 50 inventions of 2009 by Time Magazine.
In expressing his gratitude to Messrs Bunting, Dehring & Golding, Campion alumnus and Chairman of the Vision 2020 Campaign, Andrew Mahfood, commented that, “As the top school in the country, Campion deserves a modern facility that better supports innovation in the learning environment for its students. We hope that our alumni and parents will be
inspired by this latest and very generous gift to the school, and also come on board to take advantage of our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a real difference to education in Jamaica.”
ABOUT CAMPION COLLEGE
With a student enrolment of 1450, Campion College has been awarded the Top CSEC & Top CAPE School trophies over a number of years based on its examination results and continues to see improvements in these results. Thirty-five per cent of Campion’s incoming students are from primary schools and, like those from preparatory schools, they are among the top GSAT performers in the island.
Campion was founded by the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order of priests) in the 1940s. It was originally a small private preparatory boarding school for boys named Campion Hall. The high school, Campion College, was established in 1960 and was initially a private school for boys, which started with 105 students. A Jesuit desire to include students, who could not afford private education, led to various attempts by the school to render it grant-aided (a public high school subsidized by the Government), which was achieved in 1976. Campion also became
co-educational in 1976 when the school merged with Sts. Peter and Paul High School for Girls. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the school and a number of events have been planned to mark the occasion.