four persons set to depart on their journey through British-funded initiative
FOUR Guyanese have been granted Chevening awards and will now receive fully funded scholarships for a one-year master’s degree at a university of their choice in the United Kingdom (UK).

The scholarships were announced by the British High Commissioner to Guyana Jane Miller on Thursday, at a reception to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Chevening Scholarship Programme..

Miller related that the scholarship programme is a highly prestigious initiative which seeks to find future leaders.
So far in Guyana, 157 scholarships have been awarded while 55,000 have been awarded globally.
“We are just about to launch the next round of applications and those applications open on September 12 and I think it closes on November 7. For Guyana, we cover both Guyana and Suriname,” she said.

The four awardees of the Chevening scholarships are Keisha Edwards, Amrita Narine, Joshua Benn and Deanna Walcott.
In an interview, Edwards, who will pursue her Master Degree in Fashion Business Management, said that she felt really good to be selected for the prestigious scholarship.
“For many years in Guyana, the creative industry has been developing slowly. It has been in its infancy and a lot of people thought that a prestigious scholarship like this was out of our range and I didn’t even know that Chevening was an opportunity for me and when I applied [and] I got selected, it was an incredible journey,” she said.
Another awardee, Amrita Narine will pursue her Master Degree in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for the creative industry.

She related that when she learnt about the scholarship she was just 20 years old. Narine is now 22 years old and said that she is excited to explore the UK and to bring her skillset back to Guyana.

Joshua Benn is pursuing his Master of Laws in Oil, Gas, and Renewable Energy Law. Benn said that his peers inspired him to apply and to take advantage of the opportunity.
“They have seen how I have been progressing in life and they have seen my academic accomplishments, and they thought that I would be a great fit for the programme,” he said.
Benn said that he wants to be a leader within Guyana, and he believes that this will be a great stepping stone for him.
“Given the direction that Guyana is going in with the oil and gas and renewable energy, I thought what a better way to kick-start this than doing an LLM in oil, gas and renewable energy,” he related.

Benn said that his intention is to make a difference in the community, and use his background while merging it with all that is going on in Guyana with oil, gas and renewable energy and trying to do something great for the country.

Another awardee, Deanna Walcott, said that she decided to apply because she had told her grandmother who unfortunately died last year, that she was ready to pursue her Master Degree in occupational safety and health.

“So I did it for her. My friends have been encouraging me to apply for a few years now. In my job, I am an environmental and safety officer. I am very passionate about safety in Guyana so I decided that this is the area I am passionate about, that this is the area I am specialising in and so why not pursue a master’s,” she said.
Walcott related that she will return to Guyana to use what she would have learnt to better the country.