Nassau, BAHAMAS (BIS)  – The College of The Bahamas’ inaugural Homecoming under the theme, “Connecting Across Time and Space” incorporated a full week of activities which included a church service, official opening ceremony, induction of the Homecoming King and Queen, Alumni Homecoming Annual Fund reception and a pep rally.

On Sunday November 1st, College faculty, staff and students joined collectively in worship at St. Ambrose Anglican Church to receive blessings for the College and the impending Homecoming week. A number of representatives from their respective sectors at The College took part in the service, including President Rodney D. Smith and Keyron Smith, President of The College’s Union of Students.

COB Cheerleaders and the Carib Mascot Johnathon Phillips during the Homecoming game.

On Tuesday, November 3rd, President Smith officially declared Homecoming opened at the Official Opening Ceremony where the Homecoming King and Queen, Kyshaun Miller and Janae Douglas, were introduced to the College community and crowned.

“We want Homecoming 2015 to bring together students, alumni and the college community to celebrate the institution’s progress over the years. We hope to build tradition and to establish school spirit through these efforts,” explained Dr. Eslyn Jones, Vice President of Student Affairs, in her welcome address at the ceremony.

While making brief remarks, President Smith expressed, “Homecoming is a time to celebrate our past and present while looking with hope and expectation towards our future.”

As part of the efforts to gear up the college community for the upcoming basketball games, a pep rally was held at Independence Park on Thursday, where Bacchus Rolle, head coach of the basketball team, urged The College of The Bahamas family to attend the games. Dr. Eslyn Jones also gave well wishes to the team. There was entertainment provided by the COB Pro Carib Dance Team, Playhouse DJ Big L, and the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. Rho Upsilon Chapter. The basketball team members were on exhibition as the community cheered them on.

The exciting events led up to the weekend’s big Homecoming 2015 “Battle Against Cancer” basketball games that featured the Florida Memorial University Lions versus The College of The Bahamas Caribs on November 6th and 7th at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs Gymnasium.

“The whole campus is fired up, cheering on our men’s basketball team,” said Dr. Smith.

The Men’s Caribs fought hard as the first game went into double overtime but loss by one point, the final score 83-82. Justin Smith led the first game with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals; Kemsy Sylvestre added 11 points while Rashad Stirrup added 10 points. Game two, the FMU Lions came back with a vengeance and the Men’s Caribs were challenged and lost game two with a final score 49-69.

 

Captions:

(Top Left) COB community at St. Ambrose Anglican Church.
(Top Right) Janae Douglas, COB’s Homecoming Queen and FMU Queen.
(Bottom Left) Alumni Homecoming and Annual Fund Reception attendees. (From left) Paulette Hanna, Coline Reckley, Andrea Moultrie, Marcus Laing, D’Andra Greenslade and Quinton Lightbourne.
(Bottom Right) Men’s Basketball player Lowtadus Edgecombe.