South East Steel Orchestra welcomes 30 new pannists

Thirty persons, including three first graders and a 26-year-old schoolteacher are the newest pan players in St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

The new pannists were part of a Scotiabank-sponsored South East Steel Orchestra summer programme, which held a graduation ceremony on Wednesday, at the Stubbs Primary School.

Janine Defreitas, Personal Banking officer at Scotiabank, congratulated and commended the new pannists for their accomplishments over the two weeks of the workshop, and stated that her institution was proud to have the rising orchestra under its Bright Future Programme.

“We at Scotiabank are very pleased to be the official sponsor of the Scotia Bank South East Steel Orchestra for the past three years.

“Under the Bright Future Scotiabank programme, we decided to embark on this exciting initiative in 2011, which we know will have an impact on the youths of St Vincent and the Grenadines for many years to come,” Defreitas said.

The banking officer indicated that by partnering with the South East Development Inc (SEDI), Scotiabank was fulfilling part of its mandate under the Bright Future Programme, with its goal of giving hope to youths by supporting education, arts, culture, the environment, as well as helping the underprivileged and abused.

“I will also like to say a heartfelt thank you to the members of South East Steel Orchestra, for choosing us to be a part of their organization. We are very proud of you, we are very proud to be associated with you and we encourage you to continue to help our youths to be deeply rooted with steel pan and music and we sincerely hope you will join the Scotiabank steel orchestra,” Defreitas noted.

Also addressing the graduation ceremony were Rosita Snagg, president of SEDI; Assistant Superintendent of Police Jonathan Nichols, representing the Pan Against Crime Committee; Maureen Cupid of the National Commission for Crime Prevention; manager of the Scotiabank South East Steel Orchestra Cecil Ryan; and Oneka Morgan, president of the Youlou Pan Movement.

Apart from their certificates, some members of the graduating class were presented medals for outstanding performances.

These include: most enthusiastic student Neejay Shallow; most improved Jermaine Grant; the student who displayed most leadership skills Xaveon Caesar; and musical excellence Lomar Morgan.

Special medals were presented to Amara Eudovigue, Matthew John and Kyuan Green, the youngest participants at the workshop.(JJ)