SVG Grammar School Young Leaders and Grenadian students join forces

Intent on creating major change in their country, the St Vincent Grammar School Young Leaders have joined forces with the Beacon High School of Grenada to attack the issues being faced by teens today.{{more}}

A small contingent of students from Grenada arrived last Saturday, and has since been working to affect change here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Jeremy Boyde, first vice president of the Grammar School Young Leaders, told SEARCHLIGHT that their Grenadian counterparts did a small presentation on sexting and cyber bullying with the third and fourth formers of the Grammar School.

“It was a very interactive session and the boys were very receptive,” Boyde noted.

“This is a giant step in youth innovation, showing we can fill the gaps and come together as a great entity for the betterment of our societies.”

Alex Bissessar, Young Leader from the Beacon High School, also pointed out that the topics of “Sexting” and “Cyber Bullying” were chosen because they are the two main things affecting teenagers in Grenada.

It is the hope of the Young Leaders that they can stop these ills from becoming widespread in the region.

The visiting Young Leaders also took their presentation to the Bishop’s College Kingstown as well as a school in Bequia. They also utilized the media to spread their message, doing a radio programme and a television interview while they were here.

Additionally, the Grenadian Young Leaders presented one of their projects to Minister of Education Girlyn Miguel, a policy geared at creating a safe, positive and more effective learning environment.

“We feel our young people, they are headed down the wrong path,” Karreem Salhab, the coordinating teacher said. “We felt violence within our schools is beginning to climb and we need to find a way to counteract these issues”.

Under their sub-theme “Every gain is a change”, the Beacon High School Young Leaders have also been working hard in their country with several other projects, funded mainly by themselves.

“We didn’t have fund-raisers this year, because we found it difficult to link fund-raising activities to the theme and so what we did this year…we will be giving wholeheartedly,” Salhab explained.

“The Young Leaders themselves had to donate in order for them (projects) to be a success”.

Salhab further explained several ways in which they have affected change in their country and noted the Young Leaders’ race on sports day.

The race consisted of four legs, the first and last being normal, while the second and third had a twist. The person at second leg had their hands tied and had to direct the blindfolded person at third leg, to fourth, while still being tied.

Salhab explained that the “main concept was that no matter your situation, you must move forward”.

Other projects done by the Beacon High School Young Leaders in Grenada included a mentorship programme, visiting special education students, hosting an Elderly Citizens Day and donating food parcels to the homes.

The Grenadian contingent, which included Young Leaders Alex Bissessar and Kirell Forsyth, as well as their chaperones Karreem Salhab and Dwain Thomas, thanked several persons for making their trip a success.

The group left St Vincent on Wednesday and said they thoroughly enjoyed their time in the country.(BK)