So says Dr. Dorothy Thompson of her chats with students of the now-defunct Prospect Secondary School for Girls, where she taught for approximately 18 years.

The former headmistress is currently in Bermuda at the invitation of the Class of 1960 to share in its 40-year reunion festivities, and she has thoroughly enjoyed reliving old memories with her ex-pupils who, it must be said, are no less delighted to have her among them.' *** "I can't tell you how much these reunions me to me,'' she says. "They make me feel that my time at Prospect was very worthwhile.'' Bermudian Dr. Thompson's path to the top of the education tree began with her early schooling at Excelsior Prep, a private school run by Mrs. Millie Neverson, and then at Central (now Victor Scott) school. A diligent student, she won an Edmund Gibbons scholarship to Berkeley Institute, from which she graduated in 1944 with a Grade I Cambridge University School Certificate with exemption from London matriculation.

With no real idea of what career path to follow, and no personal funds to pursue a higher education abroad, the then-Miss Thompson became a junior teacher at Central. Three years later, she knew she had found her calling.

Armed with a two-year Board of Education scholarship, Miss Thompson enrolled in what was then known as Normal School (and Teacher's College today) in Toronto for one year, following which she attended McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario for the second year.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1953, and while she hadn't actually thought about teaching at the secondary level, she wanted to know something about what she preparing primary school children for next, so she applied for a Board of Education scholarship to go to the University of London Institute of Education, and emerged with her post-graduate Certificate in Education in 1956.

While there, and on the advice of her tutor, the Bermudian educator taught English, History and some Math at a secondary school in Surrey in order to gain a better understanding of the British system.

Seven months later, in April 1957, a letter arrived from Dr. Marjorie Bean informing her that the Board of Education was planning a secondary school for girls at Prospect, among others, and her name had come up as a possible principal.

"I was really excited, but I replied that while I would be interested I didn't feel I had the qualifications,'' Dr. Thompson remembers.

"No problem,'' said the redoubtable Dr. Bean, who not only advised her to officially apply for the post, but also secured extra funding from Mr. Edmund Gibbons to supplement the cost of the prospective principal's specially designed administration course at the Institute of Education in London.

Along the way, having dropped her Master's degree studies, Dr. Thompson began to get cold feet, but a tutor told her: "Other people may want to be famous, but you should choose the right kind of work. If you are called to service you should not refuse, but realise your own inability and (know that) with God's strength you can tackle anything.'' Thus it was that, when Prospect Secondary School for Girls opened in December, 1957 it was with Dr. Thompson at the helm.

"It was very difficult when I first came back,'' she admits. "I was only 30, and the Board of Education had closed the Girls' Institute of Arts and Crafts and announced that everybody, including principal Miss May Francis and her staff, would now become part of Prospect Sec. Girls School.

"It must have been hard for Miss Francis, because I was so much younger, and she had taught me, but I realised I would have to get the best out of my teachers, and use their strengths to build the school. We had nine teachers when we opened, and it was wonderful how they rallied around.'' From the outset, the new principal and her staff had a clear vision of what the school should be.

"We tried to create an environment in which every young person who came to us became the best person that they could be,'' she relates. "They all had gifts, and it was important to find out what those gifts were and develop them. We were fortunate in having people like Carol and Georgine Hill, Miss Francis, Pauline Brown, Rebecca Fubler Trott and Fredricka Butcher. We challenged the teachers and they gave of their best. The programmes they designed for the students became more and more challenging.'' Dr. Thompson also placed great emphasis on the arts -- music, dancing, speech and drama -- and ensured that whatever productions the school staged were not only notable, but all-embracing.

"It was so important that everyone in the school become involved. We were a community, and whatever we did reflected on each other. Success or failure -- it was ours. We all contributed,'' she says.

Scholastically, Dr. Thompson designed a two-phased programme for her new school. The first was a general studies programme, and the second focused on business and commercial studies, with "a little bit of hotel and catering'' and, for a brief time, child care studies. There were also specialty needlecrafts. Students took external GCE, Pitman's and RSA examinations. In 1964 Forms 4 and 5 became co-educational as boys from Robert Crawford and Howard Academy joined the girls for GCE studies.

Looking back on those years, and the strides her school made, the former principal says: "I am so proud of my students. In 1963 our school was hailed as a shining example in the Horton Report.'' By 1973, however, things had changed somewhat, and Dr. Thompson began to think of resuming her Master's degree studies.

"I found the school had grown and the accommodation hadn't. We were being over-crowded and a lot of the programmes we had were discontinued, which was more than discouraging. New schools were being built with all kinds of facilities and we weren't getting our share.

"I was very interested in doing a Master's degree, and the Department of Education encouraged me.'' Within months she was at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute of Studies of Education, where she successfully gained her M.Ed. degree in counselling in 1975.

Of her subsequent departure from the Prospect school she loved with all her heart, Dr. Thompson prefers not to re-open old wounds.

"Severance was not my choice, and it was very painful,'' she says. "At the time there was disbelief, amazement and utter anguish because of the conditions under which it happened. But time is a great healer.'' Gaining her Doctorate in 1986, the educator remained in Canada, teaching in the Adult Education Department of St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia until her retirement in 1990.

"I am very happy with the career path I took in life,'' she says. "There were paths not taken, but all in all I think I have been fortunate. I appreciate the people who helped shape me, and I am grateful to God that I have been allowed to do what I did.'' Seventy-three years young, the lively Dr. Thompson remains as interested in life and education as ever. Not only is she vice-chair of the Antigonish County Adult Learning Association; a member of the African-Nova Scotian liaison committee, and the liturgy committee of her church, but also she is a prize-winning cook whose other hobbies include calligraphy, indoor gardening, and tutoring.

Viewing local education today, Dr. Thompson says: "The one thing that bothers me is that students seem to feel that if they go to one school they are better than students who go to another. We have to have a system of education which lets them know that wherever they are, their faculties are being developed.

"We are a small country and the young people are our resources. We have to make the best of them. Teachers do more than teach a subject, they provide an environment in which a child grows. It is the small things you do or say that make a difference. As teachers, we have to understand that.'' For today's students, Dr. Thompson has this advice: "Get an education, it is really very important as it opens up so many avenues, and also believe in yourself.'' Although she makes her home in Canada, her love of Bermuda is undiminished.

"I would love to come home, but I can't afford to live here,'' she says wistfully. "I always invested my money in education, so I have no regrets.''