Stories of courage, inspiration, and valiant leadership; service to others, academic and sporting excellence, spiritual commitment, and others were shared and celebrated at a Special Sitting of the Federal Parliament to recognize the 25 Most Remarkable Teens in St. Kitts and Nevis.
The award ceremony was held at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort Ballroom on November 30, 2022. Awards were presented by Members of Parliament from the government and opposition benches.
Junior Minister responsible for Youth Empowerment, the Honourable Isalean Phillip, expressed great pleasure that the young people are being recognized for demonstrating excellence in taking the initiative to develop themselves by giving service to their community and society as a whole.
“We are not only recognizing excellence in terms of the typical scholarly achievements of volunteerism but we also recognize and award displays and demonstrations of strong character and civic responsibility with traits of being able to persevere, having determination for success, to lead, and to shift life paths and trajectory,” the Junior Minister stated.
She noted that the annual programme, which was initiated in 2011, does not just award the teens, but also engages them in training to develop and execute community projects to further personal growth and the spirit to give back.
“These young people represent the future,” Honourable Phillip said. “They also represent the present because they are doing quite a bit presently in their lives to support each other and support communities and so I hope that we can sit and feel very proud and feel very secure that our future is in safe hands and that we have confidence in the human capital that we are developing.”
The 2022 class of the 25 Most Remarkable Teens in St. Kitts and Nevis are Ms. Dominique Williams, Sienna Henville and Maija Lake for Youth Activism; Maleek Queeley and Quinyka Bradshaw for a Personal Decision to Change; Daron Thomas for Scholar-Athlete and Leadership, and Dennidra Evelyn and Tei-Naaki Davis for Courage to Overcome. Awards in the category of Sports went to Jahzara Claxton and Shamarie Roberts, while the awards for Scholar Athlete were presented to Kahly-el Ward, Jermahd Huggins, and Niran Warde. The award in Academics was presented to Brianna Browne, while Academics and Spiritual Commitment was presented to Malika Benjamin.
Additional awards went to Devonte Browne and Brianna Paul for Leadership and Volunteerism; Tatiana Leader for Entrepreneurship; Zahra Browne for Entrepreneurship and Music; Laquandre Lowrie for Leadership and Sports; Shakim Forbes for Volunteerism; Omarion Bartlette for Most Promising; and Donell Francis for Spirit of Hope; while Sidondre Flemming and Malachi Tucker-Gumbs were recognized for excellence in Performing Arts.