A call to “take advantage of every opportunity to learn a trade, to give value to what is done and in every effort to put your heart into this beautiful city”, was the call of José Rodríguez Barrera, director of the Office of the Historian, to the students of the various specialties of the Francisco Sánchez Betancourt school, which today return to the classrooms.
The opening ceremony marks the beginning of work practices for young people, who are trained in its classrooms in the various technical specialties taught by the center, such as those related to masonry, plaster, forging, mural painting, carpentry and joinery, as well as gardening.
A faculty of teachers with great experience and precision in their work today welcomed their 16 disciples, who will also have a new director: Mr. Osvaldo Viamonte Hernández.
The practices
It is worth noting that, in their daily work, teachers not only prepare young people in the trades, they also instill in them the necessary sensitivity to assume the restoration and rescue of important and old buildings in the city; institutions of the Office of the Historian and other works, which if not undertaken in time and with care, would cease to exist.
The teachers at the Francisco Sánchez Betancourt School of Trades, belonging to the Office of the Historian of Camagüey city, go hand in hand with teaching and practice and with perfect skill “teach how to do, by doing”. In many of the interventions on the occasion of the anniversaries of the foundation of Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe and in the recent works of the cemetery, this combination was of great value.
Cultural brushstrokes
In the meeting to restart the 2021-2022 school year, to fill the new path of future restorers with optimism, there were cultural gifts; because these young people must also be filled with art. For that, the occasional duo of Kike and Yoli, specialists from the Concert Hall, delighted us with the theme: Perhaps, performed by Ivet Cepeda.
Before the closing, an award was given to the School of Trades by the Union of Culture, thanking the contribution of the institution to the spirituality of the people of Camagüey, from the conservation of heritage.
The final point brought all the applause for the specialist of the Cultural Management Center, Rosilda González, who, unfolded in a surprising performance, brought us closer to the legend of Dolores Rondón and for this, it invited us to walk the “city of the dead”, while we appreciate the art and history that from there speak of Camagüey and its people.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
