School opened on October 1 with the 500+ students in Preschool and Primary School attending classes in the brand-new school building, which was designed specifically for them. Everyone is very excited about it. Now the older students (7th to 13th Grades) have their own building. The new building has been called the nicest school in the province. It is large, solid, and meets all the new seismic building standards. It is greatly enhanced by the wonderful paint job, parts of which were painted by members of our Teen Trip to Haiti this summer! People come from all around to see the school in Sassier. “It’s a miracle!” “Sassier has won the lottery!”
The new building has been named in honor of Michael Heiming, one of the founders of the Association for Schools in Hispaniola, the German group that arranged all the funding for the new school building. Michael died in March from cancer, leaving a legacy of more than 40 new and rebuilt school buildings in the Dominican Republic. Overall there are about 900 students from Preschool to 13th Grade in the Parish School, which is called College Pierre Toussaint.