MCT awards university students with bursaries

Three students received bursaries from the Mustique Charitable Trust (MCT) Thursday morning.

The recipients are Sharii Roberts, Dawn Samuel and Janielle Thompson, who are all enrolled at the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).{{more}}

Roberts is reading for a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work; Samuel, for her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management, while Thompson is studying towards a Bachelor of Education degree in Education and Literacy.

The bursaries will cover 60 per cent of the students’ tuition and the provision of a laptop to assist the students with their online studies.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony yesterday at the UWI Open Campus at Richmond Hill, administrator of the MCT Lavinia Gunn said that the bursaries are not one-off deals, but will cover the recipients’ costs for the duration of their studies.

“The intention is that this will lessen the financial burden of the student, so that they don’t have to worry too much about the remaining 40 per cent,” she said.

She explained that it was a difficult task to whittle down a group of 29 applicants to the three who were awarded yesterday.

Gunn noted that one of the requirements for recipients is that they have a sound financial plan in place to cover the cost of their 40 per cent of school fees.

“Some of the other criteria is that you have, at some point in your life or in your career, become involved in community activities, because we want to select students who are going to give back to the wider Vincentian community.”

She further stated that this requirement was put in place so that when awardees complete their studies, they would not only give to their jobs, but to wider community.

Gunn also noted that each recipient would be appointed a mentor to give them support and shepherd them through their educational journey.

“What we found when we first started the programme was that students encountered a lot of problems. They weren’t always and actually very seldom an academic problem; there were more personal problems in their personal lives.”

The recipients will also be assigned a peer, a former recipient in the same field of study, to act a study buddy.

“We are trying to get all these structures in place so that there is a no fail system.”

Laptops were presented to the recipients by trustee of the MCT Marie France-Dennis. (CM)