FIVE of the nation’s student athletes were honoured yesterday at a small presentation ceremony at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD).
The student-athletes are all recipients of the Pele FC Alumni Scholarship Award, after being selected by the Ministry of Education.
The presentation ceremony was attended by officials of the Ministry of Education, parents of the students, headmistresses and members of the Pele FC Alumni in David ‘Doggy’ Chan, Patrick ‘Labba’ Barton, Dennis Carrington and Alumni president Robbie Rambarran.
The chairperson of the ceremony, Mrs Desiree Wiles-Ogle, opened the programme by thanking the Pele FC Alumni for the scholarships stating: “We cannot do education alone and this is one sure way we’ve seen cooperation. Each child matters and stakeholders should unite for the enhancement of education.”
She was then followed by Ministry of Education ACU Secretary Leslyn Edwards-Charles, who gave a brief look into her early years before stating: “You have to help us head teachers to encourage our children to become physically active and this scholarship is one way to do so.” Charles also made clear how much she appreciated the effort.
At that point the stakeholders in Pele, led by Dennis Carrington, spoke to the audience. Carrington gave a background of the programme focusing on how it started and how it is being run.
“We will give them an advance of $15 000 each month and at the end of the month they will turn in to our liaison in Guyana, David Gomes, a progress report on their grades or any community service programme they are involved in,” said Carrington.
He also spoke directly to the student-athletes and head teachers by outlining his journey from Guyana to the United States via a scholarship to play football.
Also relating his story was Barton, who gave the students words of advice. “It’s about application. Nothing is wrong with dreaming. Dreams turn into visions and you can’t make it without visions, but you must answer the question: after sport, what?”
He was followed by Brian Smith of the National Sports Commission who spoke on behalf of the Director of Sport Christopher Jones. Smith thanked the alumni for their gesture and added that he wanted to see more of these gestures from the other sport disciplines. He then turned his attention to the student-athletes giving them encouragement.
“To whom much is given, much is expected. You have the task, the burden, and the responsibility to maintain this scholarship,” Smith said “Ensure you maintain a high standard, ensure you study, play hard and continue on the path you’re going and I guarantee you the NSC is behind you.”
Receiving scholarships were Isaiah Layne and Josiah King, both first form students at St Stanislaus College. Layne attended St Margaret’s Primary and King the St Pius Primary.
Also on the scholarship list were Joshua Denny, Reshana Bishop and Sara Matthias.
The scholarships are awarded to students who have written the National Grade Six Assessment and were awarded an ‘A’ List school after securing a score between 475 and 500 marks..
The head teacher and club leader must endorse each applicant and finally the applicant must maintain a place on the school/club team or national team.
