by Eulana Weekes
St Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Four Students of the Irishtown Primary School and Tucker Clarke Primary School are the 2022 recipients of the William Marcus Natta Memorial Scholarship Fund.
On Tuesday morning, June 28, 2022, an awards ceremony was held at the Ministry of Education Conference Room at the Irishtown Primary School, where the students were acknowledged and presented with awards.
The Theme of the ceremony was “The Present – My Responsibility.”
Co-founder and Chairman of the Scholarship Fund, Dr. Marcus Natta, explained that the William Marcus Natta Scholarship Fund is unique because it places a stronger emphasis on the financial need, quality of character and civic-mindedness of the applicants.
“The scholarship is a pretty unique scholarship. I would like to say that we’re a lot more focused on a lot of other aspects outside of just academics. We expect that our scholars will be assets to society and would be well-rounded citizens because those are the persons we need. We don’t need one-dimensional persons. We need persons who are multi-dimensional, innovative and civic-minded, and that’s what our scholarship is geared towards, and we feel that we have lots of young students who exemplify that. We want to encourage them as much as we can.”
Natta also mentioned that eleven students applied for the scholarship award this year, and the Scholarship Committee had quite a task in choosing this year’s recipients, but having deliberated, the awardees were chosen.
The female recipients are Shaniya Morris and Makaela Sage, whilst the male recipients are A’Tajone Walters and Hancer Galvez De La Cruz.
The Scholarship recipients each received a plaque at the ceremony. They will also receive an EC $200 gift certificate, redeemable at School’s Apex Co-operative, an EC $200 gift redeemable at Laws Bookstore and a $100 award from the Scholarship Committee towards the establishment of a savings account at the St Kitts Co-operative Credit Union.
The St Kitts Co-operative Credit Union has also agreed to match the Committee’s EC $100 gift; therefore, each Natta Scholar will be able to start their savings account with EC $200.
The seven other students who were not chosen for the scholarship were also recognised and encouraged to continue to work hard and improve. The students are Kerry-Kay Sloley, Isaiah Herbert, Joedi-Ann Williams, Soroya Rawlins, Stevenson Francis, Alyssa Gaiton and Najja Peets. Each of them will receive backpacks and school supplies ahead of the new school year in September.
Natta, the Fund’s Chairman, disclosed that the Scholarship Committee was very impressed with the drive and sincerity of Alyssa Gaiton and Najja Peets and believed they have great potential, thus presenting them with a TI-36x Pro Advanced Scientific Calculator.
The Keynote Address was presented by Nekirah Nicholls, reigning National Carnival Queen 2021-2022. She explained to the children that they would meet challenges or roadblocks in life, but they should not give up; instead, ask for help and continue to try until they get better.
Also offering brief remarks was Parliamentary Representative for Constituency No. 1, the Hon Dr Geoffrey Hanley. He congratulated the students and their parents for their hard work.
“To the students who are going to be awarded the Scholarship, I want to congratulate you and congratulate the parents as well, because I know some of the parents are putting in overtime with the children and also extra resources that they don’t have, sending the children to extra classes. I want to congratulate you, the students, for your hard work, and I know this scholarship that Dr Natta has the entire team will be offering you will be of great help to your parents and also you.”
Natta said the Scholarship Committee would be organising several activities to assist with the wholesome development of the children and create a bond between the students as well as the committee. Some of the activities include training on how to save money, training in etiquette as well as Socials that will bring the children together in one space.
The William Marcus Natta Scholarship Fund was established in 2010 and has consistently provided scholarships to students since then. In 2020 however, no scholarships were presented due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
