Students receiving scholarships and bursaries from the Kingstown Co-operative Credit Union (KCCU) for 2014 have been urged to be optimists and work towards achieving their goals in life.

These words of encouragement were given to 46 recipients by featured speaker Chante Melville-Francis at the scholarship award ceremony, which was held at Frenches House, last Thursday.{{more}}

In her address, Francis shared the requirements of being a real optimist and told students that they should strive to meet them if they want to be successful.

“To be successful, you must make up your mind to be real optimists. The real optimist never takes anything for granted and learns how to make the most of the situations that are presented to them,” she said.

The KCCU scholar of 2007 urged students to always give of the best, even in situations where it seems difficult to do so.

“If you are lazy and your work is below standard, it has a negative impact on you…but when you meet your deadlines and your work exceeds expectations, you give others a positive impression of what it means to be a hard worker,” Francis said.

While sharing some trials that she experienced while attending secondary school, Francis encouraged recipients to never give up and to make the most of opportunities given to them.

Senior education officer Asfo Stephens also told students that they must aim to excel at all levels of their educational journey.

Additionally, he urged parents to supervise their children to ensure that they make the most of their educational life and do well.

“You have what it takes to excel; hence you need to use your brain. You have to take your education seriously,” Stephens said.

“Do not make the scholarship money go to waste. Do not make the bursary money go to waste. Do not make the ‘little pittance’ that may be offered to those who didn’t get neither scholarship nor bursary go to waste.”

On behalf of the Ministry of Education, Stephens expressed gratitude to KCCU for providing the necessary financial support, as “monies are extremely important to ensuring the realization of the student’s goal and career paths.”

President of KCCU Colin John noted that as a corporate citizen, the credit union takes its role seriously in assisting in the education of the nation’s children.

“We are asking you to make use of those scholarships that we give to you as we try to impact on your lives positively,” John said, after delivering words of encouragement to recipients.

John also pointed out that KCCU intends to continue the trend of offering scholarships and bursaries to students and hopes to increase the number of scholarships that they offer in coming years.