Leah Thorne-Carrington of the Grantley Adams Memorial School, as she was named Most Outstanding Student from her school, by Dr. Luz Longsworth, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UWI, Open Campus.
Malik Hamilton (left) of St. George Secondary School, as he received an award for being the Most Outstanding Male from Dr. Luz Longsworth, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UWI, Open Campus.
Lekenya Prescod and Joellyn Inniss of the St. Michael School, both shared the title of Most Outstanding Student from SMS; here they pose with Dr. Luz Longsworth, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UWI, Open Campus, after receiving their prizes.
Private sector called to invest in youth
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the West Indies, Open Campus, Dr. Luz Longsworth, made a “loud” plea and call to the private sector to invest in the students, as they are the adults of tomorrow.
Longsworth’s plea came as she delivered the feature address during the Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Challenges’ graduation ceremony of the fourth cohort, which took place recently.
She strongly encouraged members of the private sector to “come on board and help us to make this programme available to, hopefully, 14 schools next year.” She joked that with each year, the number of schools coming onboard seemed to double, and since the number of schools currently involved in the programme was now at seven, she anticipated an additional seven schools wanting to come onboard.
“I know that the private sector looks at the bottom line, the ROI, or return on investment. But for me when I look at this audience I see the ROI in every single one of the 150 students who would be graduating today, so I say to the private sector to come and help us increase on the ROI on your investment, especially at these times when our youth can be so vulnerable to the negative influences in our societies,” she said.
“Our primary goal in not solely educating our young people, it is to develop the societies through education. Our strategic plan says that our goal is to revitalise the Caribbean.
“When this programme first began, it was clear that we needed a new paradigm for the young people who were entering the world of work, and for the UWI Open Campus this was a no brainer, because this was always part of our core values.”
She explained that when the programme first started with the Ellerslie Secondary School four years ago, it was a “nice and small, manageable project”, however, with the addition of the six schools, Lester Vaughn Secondary, St. Michael’s School, St. George Secondary, Coleridge and Parry Secondary and Frederick Smith Secondary, the need for sponsorship significantly increased.
She described the programme as necessary as there was a great need for programmes that help the young people in Barbados in a meaningful way, and it was her hope that members of the private sector come to recognise this, and volunteer to help as the programme moved forward. (CLF)