Rotary Club of St Vincent honours outstanding Fourth Formers

Each year, the Rotary Club of St. Vincent recognizes exceptional fourth formers from secondary schools across St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), and this year’s ceremony took place on Thursday, June,5, 2025 at the Methodist Church Hall in Kingstown.

Twenty-seven students, selected by their peers and teachers, were evaluated based on academic excellence, discipline, leadership, deportment, helpfulness, and involvement in extracurricular activities. Each student competing for the coveted George Phillips Excellence Award was accompanied by a parent and a teacher.

The George Phillips Excellence Award is named in honour of the club’s Charter President, George Phillips (1928–1996), a distinguished national athlete, scholar, and social activist. This event, held in partnership with the Ministry of Education and National Reconciliation, has been one of the club’s flagship initiatives for over two decades, a Rotary release states.

During his address, Minister of Education, Curtis King, commended the Rotary Club for its unwavering dedication to youth development through initiatives such as this. He also praised the students for their remarkable achievements and acknowledged the vital support provided by their parents and teachers.

The feature address was delivered by Ezra Hendrickson, Head Coach of the SVG National Football Team (Vincy Heat). He congratulated the students on their accomplishments and encouraged them to continue striving for academic excellence while demonstrating empathy, care for others, and a commitment to positively impacting their communities.

Wendell Phillips, son of George Phillips, was present to present the awards, assisted by the Rotary Club’s current president, Dawnette Constance, and incoming president for 2025–2026, Felicia Cumberbatch.

One of the major sponsors, The Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines, presented each awardee with a starter bank account funded with EC$150.00, along with several tokens of appreciation. Additionally, telecommunications company, FLOW provided each student with 12 months of free broadband internet access. The Rotary Club of St Vincent has also extended gratitude to ECGC’s Island Sipz Water, Jaden Inc., St Vincent Brewery Limited, Coreas Distribution Limited, Coreas Hazells Inc., Grenadine Airways, Fanfare Events, BDO, Dental Arts Clinic, Bequia Express and NJ Décor for their generous contributions, ensuring the continued success of this important project.