As St Peter’s Senior High School (PERSCO) approaches its 70th anniversary, its alumni are planning a legacy project to improve some of the school’s essential facilities.

The St Peter’s Old Boys Association plans to expand the school’s dining hall into a 1,000-seater facility while modernising the kitchen and pantry.

The project was announced on Saturday, September 19, when old students gathered at the University of Ghana for the launch of activities towards the anniversary.

Dubbed “Run to 70 – Every Step Counts,” the event marked the beginning of a year-long countdown to the school’s 70th anniversary.

But for the organisers, the milestone is about more than celebrating seven decades of education.

They want the anniversary to leave behind facilities that will benefit students for years to come.

Chairman of the 70th Anniversary Planning Committee, Ing. Patrick Okoto, said the old students believe it is time to upgrade facilities that have served the school for decades.

“We want to modernise our pantry. We want to expand the dining hall,” he said.

He said some facilities at the school have seen little significant improvement over the years.

“If you go back to St. Peter’s, some of the old things that existed, that’s what they are still using. Some have deteriorated. We think that it’s our time,” he said.

The proposed dining hall expansion is expected to respond to the growing student population.

Global President of the St. Peter’s Old Boys Association, David Buafo, said the current facility needs to be expanded to accommodate the increasing numbers.

“The dining hall, now the numbers are huge for all schools, our numbers are huge, so we have to expand to meet that,” he said.

Under the plan, the new facility will have a capacity to seat 1,000 students at a time.

“So we are going to do a thousand-seater capacity, so take a thousand students at a go. That’s what we’re going to do now,” Mr Buafo said.

The project will also involve the modernisation of the kitchen and pantry.

Mr Buafo said the upgrade is intended not only to improve the facility’s ability to serve students but also to provide safer and healthier working conditions for staff.

“And then the pantry has to be modernised. The conditions under which they work now sometimes are not very healthy and safe, even for the staff,” he said.

The old boys are appealing to members of the wider PERSCO community, including those living outside Ghana, to contribute to the project.

Ing. Okoto said the responsibility for delivering the legacy project rests with the entire community of former students.

“This is the time. We want you to come. We put our hands on the wheel and we build St. Peter’s,” he said.

One of the major sponsors of the 70th anniversary, Emmanuel Asiedu-Sekyere, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Virtual Security Africa, also called for collective support.

Mr Asiedu-Sekyere, who left St Peter’s in 1996, pointed to the establishment of a cyber lab at the school as an example of what former students can achieve when they work together.

“There’s more we can do, not only us, and that is why we’re calling on all students to be part of the 70th anniversary so that we can build something better that we can be proud of,” he said.

He stressed that the project should be treated as a collective responsibility rather than the burden of one individual or company.

“It’s not one person effort, one company effort. It’s a group effort,” he said.

He therefore urged old students to support the national executives in delivering the proposed dining hall project.

“Let’s all come together and support the national executives that would build a legacy project, the dining hall project,” he said.

The “Run to 70” is the first of several activities planned ahead of the anniversary.

The programme will include an official anniversary launch in October, a mega homecoming in December and Founders’ Day activities in February 2027.

The celebrations will climax with a week-long programme in October 2027.

For the old boys, however, the success of the 70th anniversary will not be measured only by the events held.

At the centre of their vision is a project intended to remain long after the celebrations — a bigger dining hall, a modern kitchen and pantry, and facilities designed to serve the next generation of PERSCO students.