Yesterday Queen’s College (QC) alumni as well as students gathered at the school’s auditorium to welcome former headmaster, Clarence Trotz, 90.
Trotz recently published the first of four volumes of his book “A History of Queen’s College”. The book series takes an in-depth look at his tenure at the institution and features past headmasters and Trotz’s journey to becoming the headmaster of the school.
His early life
Trotz began his journey as a student at Queen’s College in 1945 where he was also the Essequibo Scholar for that year. He graduated from his alma mater in 1952.
Shortly after he took the position of laboratory assistant in the physics lab for the last term of 1952, In January 1953, he began teaching physics and mathematics which lasted for two terms.
He was later given a conditional scholarship abroad to study Natural Science, and began university in 1953, completing his degree in 1956. He earned his post graduate certificate in education between 1956 and 1957.
Trotz returned to Guyana in 1957, where he began his journey as an ordinary teacher at QC in 1957 where he taught both Physics and Mathematics.
In 1970, he became a senior master and then acted as deputy head from 1972 to 1974.
With the former headmaster Telly Lowe leaving in 1974 thus leaving the position open, Trotz was asked to step in as acting headmaster.
Later in January of 1975 he was confirmed as headmaster. That same year he learned that QC would become a co-ed school and was given the task of overseeing the smooth entry of girls into the college.
Queen’s College was an all-boys school from 1844 until 1975. To facilitate the smooth transition for the girls in September of 1975, he petitioned the Ministry of Education for changes to be made to the school both physical, such as washrooms and sanitary compartments, and curriculum-wise with the addition of subjects such as Home Economics. His efforts were a success.
In 1980, Trotz was transferred to St Stanislaus College as headmaster in a controversial rotation of school heads that triggered protests by students at some secondary schools.
A history of QC – 4 Volumes
The four volumes of his book “A history of Queen’s College” focus on different tenures of past head teachers from the school what they taught and with notable mentions such as Nobbs, Hetram, and brother, Leroy Trotz among other notable mentions.
The last volume of the book contains a smorgasbord of information such as the location of alumni in different parts of the world such as New York, Wash-ington DC, and Canada.
It also contains information on the fire that destroyed part of the school in 1997 and how the alumni’s contributions helped to rebuild and refurnish the new Queen’s College building.
The book is not yet available for sale.
