Ellerslie student comes out on top

Daunte Harvey from the Ellerslie Secondary School was the most outstanding student of the 2017 “Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Challenges” programme.

It was also announced at the graduation ceremony, which took place at Divi Southwinds Beach Resort yesterday evening, that Nikia Slater from the Frederick Smith Secondary School was the most outstanding student from her school and Reshawn Primus was rewarded for being the most outstanding student from the St. George Secondary School.

Additionally, Harvey and Joshua Harewood from the Ellerslie Secondary School; Slater and Uniqua Griffith from the Frederick Smith Secondary School; and Shaka Moore and Primus from the St. George Secondary School were also presented with the opportunity to take part in an internship programme for the summer.

Judi Cox, a teacher from the Frederick Smith Secondary, noted that the initiative, which is in its second year, initially serviced one school but has since grown to include the other two institutions.

“The programme is an important tool in our children’s development as it prepares them for the world of work. The students were exposed to not only the steps necessary for preparing for an interview, but they were also taught appropriate methods of communication through various scenarios, including conflict resolution, dealing with a difficult client, social graces and etiquette,” she said.

Cox believed that the treatment provided to the young audience was both timely and relevant, as it challenged and developed the human resources into “high quality products” in a competitive international service sector.

She explained that the primary mechanism used to achieve this goal was through education, and noted that the programme facilitated purposefully and systematically developed employee skills in each student who participated. She expressed her confidence that each student who took part is now able to adequately develop and retain these necessary skills.

“Our corporate leaders have highlighted these weaknesses in the human resource product. It will be of interest to immerse these students randomly within corporate Barbados and have leaders in these areas evaluate and compare students of this programme to others who have not been through the programme,” she said.