Orientationfor Departing Students
For the firsttime Cayman Brac High School graduates were able to attend theorientation evening.
Some 120 young people attended the Education Council's pre-departureorientation for university and college students headed overseasfor the first time.
At the Wednesday August 7 gathering, audiencemembers included 61 Education Council scholarship recipients,the largest number yet to receive funding in an academic year.
The Hon RoyBodden addresses the audience at the Education Council's orientationfor first time university students.
Expressing his satisfaction with the widerange of students' interests, Education and Human Resources MinisterHon Roy Bodden noted that some 80 percent of scholarship applicantshad been successful this year.
In an attempt to encourage more interestin the education and health services professions, he also announcedan initiative to provide additional funding for persons pursuingstudies in those fields.
Other speakers included His Excellency theGovernor Mr Bruce Dinwiddy, Employment Relations Director WallingWhittaker, US consular representative Gail Duquesnay, and recentgraduate Jovani Hessing who works at the Cayman Development Bank,which is now responsible for distributing scholarship funds.
Students Faith Gealy and Samuel Rose discusseduniversity life in the United States, while Samantha and MilenaConolly shared their experiences in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Education Council Secretary Jennifer Smith,who organised the evening was pleased by the strong attendance.She says the evening was so successful that before it ended anumber of first-time students had volunteered to return to speakat next year's session.
Officials expect the number of studentsreceiving overseas scholarships to continue growing. They creditthis increase to the popularity of the associate's degree programmeat the Community College, which allows students to complete twoyears locally before studying abroad.
In addition to students who received awardsfor undergraduate study, there was also a record number of postgraduatescholarships. Ten students were granted funding including CaymanScholars Tricia McDoom and Dorothy Scott both of whom will shortlybegin master's degrees in law in the UK.
During the 2002/2003 academic year therewill be some 191 students abroad on Education Council scholarships.