His Excellency Ambassador Elliston Rahming meet students
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 17) — Students in the fifth grade at Takoma Education Campus were given a brief history of The Bahamas and its geographical make-up by His Excellency Ambassador Elliston Rahming during a visit to the Bahamas Embassy at 2220 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, June 11.
The Ambassador’s remarks augmented what the students had already studied about The Bahamas since November of last year, as part of the Embassy Adoption Program (EPA), which celebrated its 38th year in 2012.
Speaking at a luncheon held for the visiting students and their teachers in the embassy’s first-floor conference room, Ambassador Rahming, The Bahamas’ Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), in his brief remarks praised the students for the “fitting tribute” they paid to The Bahamas during a formal program prior to lunch being served.
“I was very impressed by what I experienced this morning,” Ambassador Rahming said. “It was a wonderful tribute to The Bahamas.”
He was referring to the skits, songs and oral presentations given by students highlighting what they had learned about The Bahamas over the past several months.
Ambassador Rahming urged the students and their teachers to visit The Bahamas, declaring that “you’ll love it..”
The visiting group was welcomed to the Embassy by Ms. Kerry Bonamy, First Secretary/Consul at the Embassy, a member of the committee that was established to coordinate the Bahamas Embassy’s participation in the 2012-2013 school year Embassy Adoption Program.
Other members of the committee include Cameron Ferguson, Registry Supervisor; Jasmine Lightbourne, the Ambassador’s Secretary; and Tershira McDonald, Receptionist/Information Officer.
The Embassy Adoption Program “is a collaborative partnership with the District of Columbia Public School System, Washington Performing Arts Society and Embassies in the District of Columbia.
To date the Program constitutes 50 classrooms, 50 embassies, 37 D.C. Public Schools and 1250 students from participating grades of 5 and 6. It is a global education program whose overarching goal is to engage students in cultural and global enrichment exercises by enhancing cultural competency, cross-cultural communication skills and increasing the understanding and awareness of the students’ local and global community.
The role of the Embassy is to connect with the D.C. public schools via its students and community members by sharing the respective country’s culture and customs, Participation in the program requires embassies to visit their respective schools a minimum of three times during the year.
Participating embassies also agree to host the final student presentations at the embassy in May or June of 2013, which was the reason for Tuesday’s event at The Bahamas Embassy.
Also present at the luncheon along with other staff members were Consul General Paulette Zonicle and Deputy Chief of Mission Chet Neymour.
The students from Takoma Education Campus were accompanied by their teacher Ms. Thea Thomas,. Also present were Mrs. Ernestine Arnold and Dr. Gladys Watkins, representatives of the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS), and Ms. Kate McNamee, representative of D.C. Public Schools, sponsors the Embassy Adoption Program in partnership with WPAS.
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