‘Work hard wherever you go’

Regardless of your grades, or which school you attend, you still have the power to reach your goals and fulfil your dreams.

This piece of encouragement and advice came from Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Senator Dr. Esther Byer-Suckoo, as she addressed a group of Class 4 students from Ellerton Primary School and Workman’s Primary School on Thursday at Casa Grande during the annual Transitioning Seminar.

Byer-Suckoo told The Barbados Advocate after the completion of the morning segment that this seminar was meant to pump positive thoughts into the students from the St. George South primary schools, who were going to be starting at a new school in September.

“We have to be mindful of the difficulty of the transition period for students who come from very small and rural schools; it can be very overwhelming,” she said.

She noted that students went from being the “big fish” at their primary schools, to being the tiny fish at the new schools. The Minister also acknowledged the fact that students would have gone from a school that was easily accessible and full of friends and family to a school where the commute is longer and they have no friends in their class, which can attribute to their overwhelming feelings.

“So we thought we would try something to help these kids make that adjustment a little easier,” Byer-Suckoo said.

She explained that since the start of the programme, which was eight years ago, she has partnered with Errol Griffith, the founder of The Power of Choice, and they were able to see The Power of Choice develop into what it is today. She revealed that Griffith delivered The Power of Choice programme to the children.

“I think that one message that I try to impart along with Errol’s message is that it doesn’t matter what grade you’ve gotten or what school you’ve passed for, you can accomplish everything you’ve dreamed of. I make the point to them that all secondary school teachers have the same training and are teaching the same syllabus at every level, so it really is up to them, the individual, to make the choice to work hard and succeed no matter what,” she said.