IT was the end of an era for the Barbados Youth Service (BYS) on Saturday evening at the Lester Vaughan School, as it held its final graduating ceremony for students, after 28 years of the institution being in existence.

After the announcement by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley this year, the current programme has received a new name, the Barbados Youth Advance Corps, and a new wider focus on life skills training being available for potential applicants.

In speaking to the graduates during his featured address, Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment, Adrian Forde, congratulated the students on their achievements and encouraged them to keep striving for excellence, despite what others may say to negatively impact them.

“This is the positive message that can really make a difference and inspire our young people across Barbados. To you graduates, I want to say thanks on behalf of the Ministry, for showing the naysayers here in Barbados that there are young people who can make a difference here in this country. That there are young people willing to walk the walk and to lift this country up and place it on the podium. So once again, in the words of Kofi Annan, we would have punched above our weight,” he said.

The minister also alluded to Government’s plan of increasing the number of young persons who will be eligible for the new Barbados Youth Advance Corps, which is set to increase its intake of applicants substantially over the next two years.

“It’s our quest to have 1 000 persons in the first year and another 1 000 in the second year. The Prime Minister also said that we will have something called a Job Start Plus Programme being championed by Minister Colin Jordan. We are trying to put a net out so that we can catch as much young people and engage them as much as possible,” Forde revealed.

Persons who would have attended the programme would have had several training sessions, which dealt with discipline, entrepreneurship and several other life skills.

In his Director’s Report for the BYS, Hally Haynes also thanked the students for their hard work over the previous year, and also congratulated the staff of the programme for doing an excellent job, in terms of training and mentorship they have bestowed upon the students, even through to the transition to the new Advance Corps body.

“Let me say that the staff has stood to the task, because at the end of the day, our job is to ensure and produce reliable, committed and talented young people, who can seek employment or create opportunities for our country,” Haynes said.