The 1978 year group of the St Louis Senior High School in Kumasi has gone back to support their alma mater with a legacy gate project meant to give a facelift to the entrance of the school.

More than forty members of the 1978 batch of St Louis Past Students Association (SLOPSA), contributed both technical and financial resources to erect the structure.

Archbishop of the Kumasi Diocese of the Catholic Church, Gabriel Yaw Anokye, led a team to pray and handover the project at a short ceremony in the school.

“This gate is a whole message, whole symbolism and significance. Simple but solemn and supreme frontage. We pray this will encourage other year groups to help in other facilities and other areas of the school’s educational policies”.

The Legacy Gate Project
The idea of the Legacy Gate Project started on WhatsApp by the 1978 Year Group in 2018.

Financial Administrator, Ms Muriel Bemah Antwi, said the project was formally launched in December, 2018 which marked 40 years since they group completed the senior high school.

“Sometime in 2018 a WhatsApp group was created for our classmates which got us all excited because some of us had not connected since we left St Louis Secondary School in June, 1978.

We decided that if the Lord had brought us together after 40 years then we needed to give something back to the school that had helped raise us all and so after consulting the Headmistress we settled on giving the school a new face which gave birth to this project.”

Though launched in 2018, the actual planning, drawings, levying and commencement of the project was done in 2019.

Along the line, their sixth form year group in 1980 year joined the 1978 group and assisted with their contributions to the project.

But the project halted in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in a lockdown and gladly resumed under the supervision of Dr. Bettie Amenu Solomon-Ayeh.

“We employed the green architecture in the wake of sustainable development by using ecofriendly materials that takes into account climate change.

She added that the design depicts supremacy, boldness, vitality, purity, transparency and good stewardship.

Representatives of the SLOPSA 78 Year Group with support from Archbishop Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye handed over the finished project to Headmistress, Mrs Ama Kyerewaah Benefo, St Louis SHS Management Board members, and students.

Headmistress, Mrs Benefo said the new entrance announces the school to passers-by and visitors in a strong fashion.

“We are very grateful. It befits the status of this school”.

The core project team comprises of Dr. Akua Kese Ofori- Asumadu as Project Coordinator, Dr. Bettie Amenu Solomon-Ayeh as Technical Adviser and Ms Muriel Bemah Antwi as Financial Administrator.

The group thanked Memphis Contractors, “who have been with us from the beginning of the project till its completion, for their support and hard work.  I must say that it has been a long journey but the Lord has seen us through it all and this is how far He has brought us.  Glory be to God”.

On behalf of the students, the School Prefect, Evelyn Owusu Appiah, explained the renovation of the entrance will address the traffic frustration caused by the earlier one.

“We used to experience human and vehicular traffic during visiting and vacating hours but now it has been expanded and the beautiful colours also adds to our scenery. We show our utmost gratitude to the 1978 year group.”