Organization of American States scholarship award winners are pictured with officials Thursday. From left, front row, are Marcellus Taylor, recipient; Azaria Clare, representing recipient Lesvie Clare; Latoya Johnson, recipient; Indira Adderley, recipient; Yvette Treco, OAS representative; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs the Hon Brent Symonette; Dr Patricia Rodgers, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Angela Bullard representing recipient Mikhail Bullard; and Kenton Burrows, recipient.
NASSAU, Bahamas – Seven Bahamians received Organization of American States scholarships to pursue studies aimed at further developing The Bahamas.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minster of Foreign Affairs the Hon Brent Symonette presented the recipients with their certificates during a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 18. He was assisted by OAS representative Yvette Treco.
Mr. Symonette said it gave him “great pleasure to recognise the seven outstanding Bahamians considered amongst the best candidates who possess the potential to make significant and profound contributions to this society.”
The OAS scholarship recipients in the graduate programme are Marcellus Taylor, education and planning; Latoya Johnson, international trade and finance; Indira Adderley, management science; Kenton Burrows, geographic information systems; and Jason Carey, molecular biology. Students in the undergraduate programme are Mikhail Bullard, criminology and political economics; and Lesvie Clare, international hospitality and tourism.
The candidates had between January and March this year to apply online to the OAS, which submitted the applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A selection committee met with and interviewed the candidates and the scholarships were granted based on their area of study. The OAS Undergraduate and Graduate Scholarship Award programmes date back to 1958. It is financed by the governments of member states as a means of contributing to their integral development.
The Bahamas became a member of the OAS on March 3, 1982 and since 1984, seventy-nine Bahamians have been awarded scholarships.
“While our scholars are all different and possess different strengths and talents, they all possess some common traits. “They have all distinguished themselves in terms of their consistently high academic performance. They have been very active in extracurricular activities and they have shown leadership potential. “These are all well-defined criteria in the OAS scholarship selection process, and I salute them for the remarkable way they have developed themselves.” Mr. Symonette said. He thanked the selection committee, which is comprised of representatives from the Bahamas’ OAS Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, and the College of the Bahamas for their dedication in the process. “Your respective fields are tools to assist in building our country’s, to enhance the social well-being and to safeguard our democratic values. “With this awareness, I am confident that, upon completion of your studies, you will all make lasting contributions to the Bahamas and gain great personal satisfaction from your careers,” Mr Symonette said.
