Winners and finalists of this year’s Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) and Ministry of Education Essay and Speech Competition received their awards and certificates at the BFSB offices at the Goodman’s Bay Corporate Centre Friday, December 21, 2007. Pictured seated, from left, are Tyrone Neely from Rotary Sunrise Club; Evan Dean, President, Bahamas Business Solutions Limited; Zoe Powell, Senior Education Officer, Ministry of Education; Wendy C. Warren, BFSB CEO and Executive Director and Dexter Fernander, Compliance Officer, Ministry of Finance. Standing, from left, are Gary Deal LaRoda, Nicolette Fox, Cerio Rolle, Brittney Stuart, Valentino Rahming, Samuel Wilkinson and Michael Rodgers. (Photo/Derek Smith)
By: Llonella Gilbert
NASSAU, The Bahamas — Two students from St. Augustine’s College and Doris Johnson Sr. High School, respectively, won the Bahamas Financial Service’s Board (BFSB) and Ministry of Education’s Essay and Speech Competition, sponsored as part of 2007 Careers Fest.
Cerio Rolle, a Grade 12 student from St. Augustine’s, won the essay part of the competition, while Valentino Rahming, a Grade 12 student from Doris Johnson Sr. High, took the Speech competition prize.
Each student received a laptop computer, printer and digital camera at the awards ceremony, held at the BFSB offices in the Goodman’s Bay Corporate Centre Friday, December 21, 2007.
Other finalists in the essay competition were as follows: Brittany Stuart, a Grade 12 student from Doris Johnson; Michael Rodgers, a Grade 11 student from St. Andrew’s School and Gary Deal LaRoda a Grade 11 student from St. Anne’s College.
The other finalists in the speech competition were Samuel Wilkinson, a Grade 11 student at St. Andrew’s School, and Nicolette Fox a Grade 12 student.
BFSB CEO and Executive Director Wendy C. Warren said the essay and speech competition is sponsored as part of BFSB’s annual school outreach programme and the Careers Fest Outreach.
Ms. Warren said the BFSB introduced its school outreach programme back in 2001 to profile the important role human resource development plays in the maintenance and growth of the Financial Services Sector.
“With the support of the guidance counsellors and the business and English teachers in the secondary schools, the essay/speech competition portion of this outreach is intended to help promote a more comprehensive knowledge of the sector, while at the same time encouraging good research and writing skills,” she added.
The competition is also sponsored by the Ministry of Finance, the Rotary Sunrise Club and with corporate sponsorship coming from Bahamas Business Solutions Ltd.
La’Nelle Deleveaux from Ernst and Young, Marvin Nairn from Citibank and Barbara Ferguson from Royal Bank of Canada acted as judges for this year’s competition.
