Summer Warrican and Daree Myers are the 2010 recipients of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Co-operative Credit Union scholarships.{{more}}

Warrican, a former pupil of the Kingstown Preparatory School, placed 12th overall in this year’s Common Entrance Exams. She, and Myers, formerly of the Buccament Government School, who placed 24th, were selected from a field of 72 applicants, Julian Jack, General Manager of the Teachers’ Credit Union, said.

The two will receive payments of $1,000 every year throughout their secondary school education, while the other 70 students received a $100 book voucher.

But even as the Credit Union’s officials reflected on the history of the financial institution’s involvement in assisting the nation’s youth in academic achievement, Cheryl Evans, President of the Board of Directors, during her presentation at the official handover ceremony on Tuesday, July 27, commented on the large number of males qualified to receive vouchers.

She, however, expressed her belief that we are losing our males between the time they enter secondary school and when they graduate.

“We are losing our boys. We have more boys now, but something is wrong between now and 5 years down the road, when it is time for them to graduate,” Evans explained.

“We have a legacy where we pay greater attention to what the girls are doing, and somehow we allow for the boys to go on their own,” she lamented.

Evans made an urgent call for society to take better care of the young males, noting that in the workplace, the number of male workers is not high.

Even the internship programmes being offered by the Teachers’ Credit Union have been seeing very little male participation, Evans said, as she reiterated her call for special attention to be placed on maintaining the interest of the young males. (DD)