Mehalai McAlmont: Empowering Students and Schools through Theatre Arts Education

By staff writer
Mehalai McAlmont, is a teacher attached to Tutorial Academy, located in Region Six (East Berbice – Corentyne). There, she teaches theatre arts and Portuguese, for over 11 years.   She is currently the head of the Allied Arts Department. 

Mehalai is also an entrepreneur, her business offers services such as decoration, event planning, waiter & waitress services, and bartending. 

She also uses her artistic talents to express various themes, design and creativity. She believes that the Arts field chose her. 

Mehalai McAlmont

Her poetry journey started at church. 

“One day, I sat on the step at church, and I saw a child next door, being flogged from disobeying her parents. I don’t think it was the lashes that got to me.. I believed it was the way she was being flogged, in an abusive manner… And that was the stimulus for me to start penning poems…,” Mehalai told this publication. 

She continued by saying, “My journey started at age 11, with my first poem being about child abuse. There was a woman at my church, named Clarise James, who helped me edit my poem and I submitted my poem for a competition. Shockingly, my entry won, and I was awarded $200 USD and that got me my first bicycle, which allowed me to ride to school.”

“Excitingly, that motivated me to continue writing poems, for myself and church activities. As a teacher, I now write poems for costume competition, which stopped until the COVID-19 pandemic. Post covid, I was unable to write any this year, as we did not sign up for the poetry category this year..,” she said.

Mehalai McAlmont

At the moment, Mehalai has placed poetry on a pause, however she is still passionate about the arts. She now focused on theatre arts, which she teaches as it allows her students to express themselves. 

She noted, “I embrace all forms of arts. I am so proud of my past students and I believe as a teacher this is one of my greatest achievements.

Many of them come to my third form class, being shy and then they leave in fifth form, transformed, whether it’s them being bold, or they can speak eloquently, or pen their thoughts, and/or whatever form they deem fit for expressing themselves, they leave better thanks to the arts.”

When asked about achievements she is proud of, Mehalai posited, “It will be to ensure that by the time I leave the teaching arena, all the students within my reach, utilise theatre arts, to transform and express themselves.” 

The passionate theatre arts teacher, worked with other schools with Region 6 and 5, such as the Berbice High School, New Amsterdam Secondary School and Belladrum Secondary to either implement or reestablish the theatre arts in those schools. 

This year, she is working with Port Mourant Secondary and Skeldon Line Path Secondary. 

She is passionate about ensuring that all students get exposure to any art form. 

For Mehalai, one of the greatest challenge is time, as the arts can be demanding. Managing a business and teaching can also be a challenge. 

Via the Ministry of Education’s Allied Arts unit, there is a network of young people both teachers and students, who are passionate about the arts.

They attend workshops, and they stay connected and assist each other, that’s how she and her colleagues have been able to overcome some challenges they face. As such theatre arts countrywide have been able to cop 100% passes at the CSEC. 

Her advice for youths is, “The arts takes time. 

… You need to spend time in the arts. 

Perfection does not occur overnight. It is always a work in progress. Once you put in the work, you’ll be successful in the end. 

Follow your passion and dreams. God gave you that vision & passion for a reason no matter the challenges. It may not always give you that polished look that you wish to see. However there is a reason why you have a blueprint of it in your mind. Keep learning and practicing. 

Lives will be changed through whichever art form you use.”