On May 20, 2008, the front page of The Royal Gazette featured an article about the possibility of our school closing down. During language arts class that day our language arts teacher, Vejay Steede, asked my class and me to read the newspaper article about Whitney shutting down and then write a journal entry about it. Here is a sample of how my classmates and I felt about the article:

Shaimir Williams wrote: "A lot of things raced through my mind when I found out that Whitney might shut down. I can't see myself going to any other school but Whitney. I am pretty sure that most of the Whitney family feels the same way as me. However, I am not going to deny the fact that the school needs to be fixed up and cleaned, and every thing else. Nevertheless, I think that they should fix the school at any cost it may be. Or else there will be a lot of school-less children and absent staff members."

Dale Eve wrote: "Personally, I do not want Whitney to close down. This school has lots of memories and the children have become like a family to me. Moving to another school would be frustrating, irritating and tiring. I'd miss everything and everyone in and about Whitney. I know that I'm sometimes a 'pest' to the teachers, but I know personally they too would miss the school. If our Government and school board were to close our school down, there would be a lot of school-less children in September. To some it would be expensive buying new things and weird being around a class of new students. I have bonded with all my teachers and we have become a loving community. Saying all this, I hope the Government will come up with a plan to repair not just the school, but the hearts of the teachers and students."

Danielle S. Bean wrote: "When I found out that there might be a chance that my school will shut down, I was very angry for two reasons: a) because I will miss my friends, and b) because they let us know so late in the school year that we might have to find a new school. These problems could have already been fixed when the first complaint was made. This school is very old. Coming to school the next day and hearing everyone talk about it was like a big funny joke! Like, my school, close; it's been around for ages — and hopefully many more to come!"

Dakai Grant wrote: "I think this situation is bad. I think it is kind of good too. I think it's good because, I really think that the school needs to be renovated. Whitney is an old school, and it's been here for years. We only got one thing renovated, and that was our assembly hall. But that was back in 1990. They really do need to do something with this school. The walls are peeling; lights are dropping, like — what's going on? It's bad because, I don't want this school be knocked down. I feel bad too. I feel bad because I don't want to leave. But for real, this school does need something. Even some of our fire alarms don't work. We also need some plumbing. One time when my Spanish class was raising money to go away to Spain, we had a car wash. When we tried to use the hose, the water was hardly coming out. All I'm just saying is that we need renovations, a lot of renovations!"

Joshua Ray wrote: "Is Whitney really going to close? Are they going to let children have three months to find a new school and let teachers do a little bit of work and still get paid, or is the Government actually going to fix up Whitney? Or are they just bluffing? This is what you hear in the hallways. People are asking: 'What school are you going next yea?' Someone else believes that we're all going Sandys. I think this situation is terrible, but fair, because the school never seems to have enough money. This makes me feel angry because last year they promised that we would be the last M1s to enter that old hall, but one year passed and nothing changed. This is sad but hopefully next year we would have enough money to fix up Whitney. I think the Government is not going to close Whitney; I think they're going to send us to the old Berkeley if the job is not done by the end of summer."

Areka Furbert wrote: "I really hate this situation. For us children, it's really hard to understand. When they say that they will close down the school, we think about what school we are going to go to, or are we going school at all? Some children think it's cool, but I think it's unbelievable! Will we go to the old Berkeley? Or will we have school outside? Now I think that idea would be totally awesome. What if the school isn't going to be finished by the time we get off the summer break? So what is going to happen then? What will they do then?"

Kevin Pacheco wrote: "The situation at Whitney Institute is that the Government wants to renovate the school. It makes me feel mad and sad in a way, because I don't want to go to another school; but in another way they should do it because the school is old. The cost of the renovation is about $35 million. They should renovate the school when we get out of school, then they would have all summer. This feels kind of shocking because this has never happened to me in the whole two years at Whitney. Whitney to me is the best school; no other school can compete with us."

D'kiyah Evans wrote: "I think that the situation about Whitney is horrible. I say that because, Whitney is old like, and Whitney needs renovation, seriously. Even though I've never seen a termite, rats, and other things, still, other people have. Unless Government can come up with an emergency plan to renovate this termite-infested, ageing building, we have no chance. I don't want to go to a new school. I don't want to make new friends. I don't want this school shut down, because it's been here for a long time. It will be sad for Whitney not to be here. So the Minister of Education would have to do something right now. Whitney has taught most of the students' parents and other relatives. I have a plan to how we can raise money to renovate our school. Ask other principals over the Island to have a $2 grub day. Have a car-wash, a tiny fair-fun day, something!

"If students from Whitney have to go to another school, do we have to buy new school clothes? And if we do that will not be fair. PLEASE DO NOT LET WHITNEY GET SHUTDOWN!"

As for me, I think that Whitney is a very great school and since I've been attending Whitney I have seen things that need to be renovated. I have one more year of Whitney and I would like to spend my last year here. If Whitney needs to be renovated, it will need to happen now; at least it better happen during the summer, because, like I said, I would like to spend my last year at Whitney.

People have come up to me and asked how I feel about Whitney closing and told me how they went to Whitney. All I am saying is that I do not want Whitney to shutdown while I attend, well, not at all really.