Winsome Arana

University of the West Indies (Jamaica)

BS Chemistry, Zoology

Manchester University (UK)

Post-Graduate Certificate in Education

Tell us about your family.

I have three adult children and two grandchildren.

What's a favorite childhood memory? 

Spending summers in the countryside in Jamaica, climbing trees, picking and eating fruits straight off the trees, helping my aunt care for her chickens and pigs.

Why did you become a teacher?

I was working in a summer job right after graduating from university, but the job was coming to an end, and the Forensic Lab where I had interviewed had not yet called me to start my career in Forensic Science.  In the meantime, a number of schools were putting out desperate ads for Science teachers.  I took one of these jobs because I needed to earn an income.  The call I had waited on all summer from the Forensic lab came about two months into my new teaching job.  By then, I was inexplicably hooked on teaching.  I could not imagine leaving my students to go to work in a lab, which would offer a far better salary and opportunities for training and advancement than my present teaching job.  It was a God thing.  God had called me to teach.

Who was an influential teacher for you, and why?

My high school English teacher, Mrs. Margaret Garel, is from Wales in the UK.  She inspired me to work hard, she encouraged me to continue when I wanted to quit school, and she showed me a world I did not know existed outside of my own narrow world.

What do you love about SRCS?

I love that my students allow me to enjoy teaching them.  I love how they inspire me to want to work hard and make Science an exciting subject to learn.  I love the emphasis placed on our core values and how it prepares students to grow and become great ambassadors of God when they leave this institution.  I am blessed to work with an awesome group of teachers who are supportive and funny and dearly love the Lord.