Fostering a love for the arts -Thomian Literary Festival 2017
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Pix courtesy Thomian Photographic Club
Over its 166 years of existence of which 100 years are celebrated in Mount Lavinia this year, S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia has strived to ignite and hone literary and oratory skills in the students entrusted to her care. The school takes great pride in having produced internationally appraised orators such as the S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and internationally acclaimed Toastmaster Dananjaya Hettiarachchi, and writers and thespians such as Lionel Wendt, Lakdasa Wikkramasinha and Richard De Zoysa. In fact, this year’s Thomian Literary Festival coincides with the inaugural Inter-school Debating Tournament for the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike Memorial Shield organized by the oldest society at STC, The English Literary and Debating Society.
Since inception S. Thomas’ College has honed a love for the arts especially with regard to Literature, Oration and Performance. This interest has led to the initiation of new societies such as the Junior English Literary and Debating Society and the Gavel Club.
The ‘Thomian Literary Festival’, which took place recently was a project initiated by the Faculty of English last year, provided students with an opportunity to showcase their literary and oratory talents and skills. Held at the school premises from 8.30am – 3.30pm. The event kicked off with the Book Character Parade which displayed the students’ in costumes of their favourite book characters. The audience enjoyed the costumes and impersonations. This was followed by a series of competitions – spelling bees, poetry recitation competitions and speech competitions from Grade 1 to Grade 9. Simultaneous to the competitions was a tri-junior friendly debate held in the Main Hall among the junior debaters of Ladies’ College, S. Thomas’ Preparatory School and STC Mount Lavinia. Students had also previously submitted creative pieces for a Creative Writing competition. Additionally, students’ posters and crafts of their favourite books, writers and characters were displayed in the competition area for public viewing. Some of the submissions included a miniature structure of Stuart Little’s bedroom and a character wheel of the many roles of Stuart, posters on Stephen King and the Whimpy Kid series.
The decorations at the festival comprised mainly of student contributions, which the faculty of English had made use of creatively. The school also publishes a yearly compilation of articles by the students of the Primary and Lower Secondary Schools, titled ‘The Pantagraph’ which was sold at the literary festival and helps to promote students’ writing and provides them with a platform for publishing. ‘The Pantagraph’ consists of students’ journalistic writing, interview writing, creative writing and student made crosswords. Moreover, a book stall was conducted by M.D. Gunasena, which was a project by the Thomian Class of ’99, that has rallied round the College flag to revamp the College Library and to promote state of the art library facilities for the students. This project is aimed at inculcating a culture of reading and academic discipline among the students.
There was also a book donation corner, led by World Vision Sri Lanka, to which students and parents could donate books to help the underprivileged communities of the country. This was an initiation of a student in Grade 8.
The Faculty of English of S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia hopes to broaden this project every year to showcase the literary and oratory skills of young Thomians, whilst aiming to inculcate a love for the English language and language skills in the students.
O. Cabraal
