ZEEBURG Secondary School has emerged overall winner in the Guyana Finals of the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge Competition, copping the national award from among 19 schools which submitted a total of 32 projects for judging.

There was great euphoria as the judges’ decision was made known at the end of the one day contest held at the the Umana Yana on Saturday. Zeeburg dominated the competition with its entry: ‘Use of a Shrimp Drier to reduce air pollution.’
President’s College copped the first runner-up position with its entry: ‘Bio Gas generation from farm and kitchen waste: A clean source of fuel and electricity’. Meanwhile, Skeldon Line Path Secondary School was second runner-up with its: ‘Water, Sanitation and Filtration system’.
There were five special prizes, awarded in the following categories:
*  Best Presentation: Won by  Zeeburg, Anna Regina Secondary School and President’s College jointly
* The Best use of STEM: awarded to President’s College, Skeldon Secondary Tagore Memorial Secondary and Zeeburg Secondary
* Best Plan and Project Design: Won by President’s College
* Most Creative and Innovative Presentation:    Awarded to Zeeburg Secondary School
*  Most Relevant to Sustainable Project to the Caribbean Community:  Awarded to St. Ignatius Secondary for its’ Self-sustainable Water Supply’ entry
The winning project submitted by Zeeburg is aimed at reducing air-pollution in the community, brought on by the primitive method of sun-drying fish and shrimp. The method used is both hazardous to the health of residents of the community, more so the school located nearby. The school complains of being greatly affected by the odour and attendant fly infestation. The competition, the team said, presented the ideal opportunity for them to brainstorm and come up with a novel and innovative project (a mechanical shrimp drier) that would bring relief to both the school and the wider community affected by current method of drying shrimp.
On the basis of such remarkable overall performance, Zeeburg will now make its way to the regional finals to be held in Barbados on April 16.  Prizes for the Regional competition include US$5,000 for the winner; US$3,000 for the first runner-up and US$1,000 for the second runner-up.
Meanwhile, student representatives and teachers of the winning teams from each national competition will also participate in an all-expenses-paid STEM Ambassador Programme in Florida during Summer 2013.
The participating schools were: Zeeburg Secondary, Anna Regina Multilateral, President’s College, Queen’s College, Bishop’s High, St. Rose’s High, Tutorial High, Central High, Richard Ishmael Secondary, Saraswati Vidya Niketan Secondary, Annandale Secondary, Tagore Memorial Secondary, Covent Garden Secondary, West Demerara Secondary, Skeldon Line Path Secondary, St. Ignatius Secondary, Diamond Secondary and Corentyne Comprehensive Secondary.
Sagicor Visionaries Challenge Project is an initiative in which the Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) has partnered with Sagicor and the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to create a platform for schools to identify a challenge facing their respective institutions or communities. Using Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), they were asked to develop effective, innovative and sustainable solutions to the challenge identified.
The stakeholders strongly believe that innovation in STEM must play a critical role in overcoming the challenges to building successful sustainable communities. To this end, they developed this Challenge to:
* Boost institutional capacity in STEM in the secondary schools in the Caribbean;
* Ignite interest among youth for innovation in STEM to help build sustainable communities throughout the Caribbean; and
* Integrate knowledge gained from formal and informal education to enable tomorrow’s leaders to build a more sustainable Caribbean.
Sagicor’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Richard Kellman, in commending Guyana’s response to the regional initiative, noted that this country has submitted the highest number of projects so far, all being of extremely high quality. “We’ve had 32 projects and each is a winner.  Whether you win or not, you will find a way to ensure the project gets implemented,” he encouraged the participants, urging them to let it go beyond merely the contest being run off.
Students may become future mentors or small business owners, he proposed, adding that Sagicor is committed to the project for the forseeable future. “The future looks bright. We have teased out something that is going to happen”, Kellman asserted. He also appealed to the business community to take up the baton and work with the students to ensure that the projects are implemented.
Chief Education Officer, Mr. Olato Sam, eminently proud of the performance of the local teams, congratulated the participating schools and had kudos for Sagicor for the initiative he referred to as a ‘landmark occasion’.
Also offering congratulations and words of encouragement to the participating schools were Dr. Maya Trotz, Professor, Environmental Engineering at the University of Florida; and Ms. Marlene Chin, Manager, Corporate Communications, Sagicor Life, Trinidad and Tobago.