Several organisations and individuals received much needed financial support from the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM) when the school donated close to EC$80,000 as part of its education outreach initiative.
The cheques were distributed during a recent awards ceremony at the University’s campus in West Farm. Donations were made to the Ministry of National Security to go towards the Police’s Annual Summer Camp to assist with the ministry’s effort to reach at-risk youth and reduce juvenile delinquency; to the Basseterre High School (BHS) Chemistry Team for its BHS Chemistry Lab Project that is aimed at providing BHS students with a space for lab-based experimentation to help prepare them for their final regional exams; and to the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force to help with offering relevant, current education and training which will assist officers with doing their jobs more effectively and make their agencies more successful.
The individuals who benefited are expected to use the money for their educational pursuits. Tuition support was given to Constable Travis Henry who is currently entering his final year of study in Criminal Justice with a focus on Digital Forensics, and Kerown Eddy, who is presently in Trinidad and Tobago studying for a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Agriculture.
Ross University has been in St. Kitts for over 30 years. RUSVM Dean, Dr. Sean Callanan, said that this approach was in line with the view that people could be given opportunities through education in a number of areas.
“Because education is not single-faceted, education is multi-faceted. Education can be around improvement in public speaking. Education can be around thinking, around crisis management, around how we can empower people that, maybe, have not had a good education this far and we can, you know, reinvigorate them by giving them opportunities that they didn’t have and that makes us feel good and we hope it makes them feel good as well,” Dr. Callanan said.
Adtalem Global Education, which is based in the United States, is the parent company for RUSVM. Senior Vice President for Corporate Relations at Adtalem Global Education, Lisa Sodeika, was present in St. Kitts for the awards ceremony. She expressed her happiness with the selection of awardees.
“When we contribute to communities where our colleagues and our family members and our students live and work, we really look for partnering with groups that do great work in the community and one of the things that struck me here today is that we’re impacting children all the way from the youth camps as they enter primary school and then on through high school and college,” Ms. Sodeika said. “That educational pipeline is so important as we think about our role in helping develop a stronger highly educated workforce here in St. Kitts and everywhere Adtalem operates.”