BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 23rd August 2019) – At the age of 12, Maleah Erskine of Bird Rock, a junior high schooler at the Basseterre High School (BHS) has sat advanced Mathematics by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) and not only passed but has received a Grade 1-the highest score grade category of the May/June 2019 CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) exams.

“I’m honestly proud of myself for this accomplishment,” she said during an interview with this media house.

Notably, she is currently awaiting her results from CXC EDPM (Electronic Document Preparation and Management) for which Maleah along with her family is confident that she will pass with flying colours, likewise.

Her mother is the head of the Math Division at BHS Ayanna Erskine and her father is well-known driving instructor Nigel Erskine.

Maleah is the first of three children and only daughter to her mom. She has two brothers Faheem and Zekie and also has two older siblings on her father’s side Orngel Erskine (2015 Miss National Carnival Queen) and Crystal.

She  is thankful for the encouragement and support of her parents and hopes that her younger siblings will become motivated by her accomplishment.

 “I couldn’t have done it without the motivation of my parents.  I’ve always given my parents reasons to be proud of me and I enjoy doing this. I’m hoping that my younger siblings will follow in my footsteps and that others will be motivated by my success.”

Maleah, who is about to enter 2nd form in the upcoming school year, is a former student of the Beach Allen Primary School who graduated as valedictorian in 2018.

She is determined to keep challenging herself.

“Now that I’ve done these two subjects and was so successful, I’m motivated to do twice as much next year. I know persons might be wondering why but I believe knowledge is not wasted and I enjoy the challenge. I love challenging myself,” remarked Maleah.

 “She can be described as a multifaceted individual. She’s very competitive and is well- rounded and has always maintained top position in her classes. She has a very outgoing personality and sees herself as bubbly yet weird, friendly and respectful,” says her mom.

Like any other teenager, Maleah enjoys watching videos on YouTube, going to the beach and movies in her spare time. Additionally, she loves dancing and pageantry.

Her outgoing personality, however, sees her actively taking part in many extracurricular activities while balancing academics being involved in the St. Kitts 12th Girl Guide, Synergy Movement Dance Group, St.Kitts-Nevis Shito Ryu Karate-do Association, BHS Storm Cheer Leading Squad and Stormers Athletic club while embracing her spiritual growth through worship at Beacon of Hope Ministry located at the Industrial Site. 

Read further to find out what more Maleah had to say.

REPORTER: What motivated the move to sit CSEC Math and EDPM?

MALEAH: I’ve always loved Mathematics and sometime when I’m around my mom’s extra classes, I would find that some topics seem easy to me. Although I wasn’t always able to understand everything, I would always have an idea as to how to solve the problems, so I challenged myself that when I reach high school I would write Math in 1st form. As for EDPM, I wasn’t so interested in the beginning. My mom suggested that I do it since she wanted me to be knowledgeable about the computer.  I don’t regret doing it as I learnt so many things about different type of documents and formatting and I’m now able to teach my mom and dad these things.

REPORTER: What was preparation like?

MALEAH: I didn’t have a personal tutor for either subjects. I attended EDPM classes with Mr. Deepak and Math classes with my mom. EDPM class clashed with my Math class on Thursdays therefore, I was only able to attend one session of Math class a week. However, I would usually do past papers and have my mom marked them. I feel like my mom was sometimes strict being that I’m her daughter but she would always explain all the concepts and made sure that I understood.

Although Maleah is undecided about what career path she would like to choose at this time, what she is certain about is the nature of the field.

“I haven’t made up my mind about my career path but my interest lies in the area of Math, Science and Technology.”

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 23rd August 2019) – Individuals who are physically challenged, though differently abled, lead normal lifestyles and should have the opportunities to uplift their quality of life in various areas including accessibility to sidewalks and buildings throughout St.Kitts-Nevis.  

Such is the level of understanding that the St.Kitts-Nevis Association of Persons With Disabilities wants society to have as voiced by immediate past president Anthony ‘Tony’ Mills (who is wheelchair user) during an interview with this media house this week ahead of the Disabled People’s International North America and the Caribbean (DPI NAC) 10th regional Assembly to be held at the Royal St.Kitts Hotel in Frigate Bay (23rd to 25th August). 

For the first time, the seminar will be hosted in the Federation.

“It’s been hosted all over the Caribbean. We are glad that we have this chance to host and showcase our little island,” Mills remarked speaking to this reporter at the association’s office space at the McKnight Community Centre.

He listed some of the topics expected to be covered such as: What is going on in the region, the rights of persons with disabilities, finding out which countries have signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) as well as what are the best practices outside of the region for consideration.

He informed that persons with disabilities in St.Kitts-Nevis make up about 10 to 15 per cent of the population.

“There needs to be more sidewalks all over the island and not just in down town Basseterre. There are sidewalks all over the country and the sidewalks don’t have any ramps but down town Basseterre is well-equipped so it makes us wonder if they only do it for the tourists. I’ve told the government that so they know. We wonder that because outside of down town Basseterre, there isn’t much that is done in terms of accessibility to the sidewalks; there are some but not complete and we think when they’re putting in the sidewalks, we think that this should be automatic,” he responded when asked about his association’s wish list.

It is also hoped that the buildings codes will be looked at to address the issues related accessibility.

As gathered, the UNCRPD has yet to be signed and has been outstanding since 2006.

“There are quite a few countries in the region that have either signed it and put it on the shelf or signed it and ratified it. Most of the Caribbean islands have only signed it but have quite a bit have ratified it also and put in place the enacting legislation that would bring it into force,” Mills disclosed.

Countries include Jamaica, Cuba, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda.

Mills gave his personal take on the perceived slowness for more governments around the region to affix their signatures to the UN document.

“I think most governments that haven’t signed it just don’t want to look at costs because there would be a cost to implement some of the articles in it… because if they sign it and ratify it then they have to begin looking to implement the articles in it. For some reason, if there is a choice between two things and one is for persons with disabilities and one is for persons not with disabilities, they always look at what the one that is for persons with disabilities will cost and they will put off that one …and to me they should look at the human costs because they human costs is greater than any financial costs and see that sometimes they could do the one for persons with disabilities because we are behind.”

Despite the ongoing challenges on the local scene, he acknowledges that there has been some improvement.

In 2017, the association got a transportation bus bought by the SIDF (Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation) and there is an ongoing training programme at the McKnight Community Centre with participants and facilitators being paid through the STEP (Skills Training Empowerment Programme).

Additionally, Mills informed that there are plans to install an elevator at Government Headquarters and another government building.

“Our organisation has been around since 1982. This is the third administration since our organisation has been around and we are still fighting for some of the same things. I mean some stuff has been done, there has been some improvements in certain areas but there is still a whole lot to do. I like to say that there should be some sort of affirmative action type of programme to allow persons with disabilities to catch up because we are way behind in terms of society here in the Federation,” Mills commented.

In accordance with him, persons with disabilities especially the young ones feel left out of society and to address such concern, they should be given the same opportunities.

“Talk to young people with disabilities and they feel like they are being left out of the society. This is what I hear from them all the time. Sometimes you have to look at that human costs. These young people are growing up; they are depressed and they are angry because it seems like society doesn’t want them and if you talk to them, they want everything that other young people want. They listen to the same music, they wear the same clothes, they watch the same movies and they want to go out to the same places and they want to have their own homes if they have a job. All the same things that you hear any young person talk about, you’ll hear young people with disabilities talk about because they want the same things so they have to be given the same opportunities.”

Mills added: “That’s kind of what we’re looking at and kind of what the conference they are having this weekend will look at… stuff like that and how we could get the governments in the region to see these things and begin to work on them.”

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Wednesdayy 21st August 2019) – “Be creative; never limit yourself. If you have a dream and you have a goal, push through it. Some people might tell you otherwise but don’t listen to them.”

This is the advice of 21-year-old business owner of Eqnoxx Multimedia Productions Noel Nicholls to participants of the recently held five-day photography camp as expressed during an interview with this media house following a closing ceremony held on Friday 16^th August at the office location at The Circus in Basseterre.

The participants were: Ayahna Herbert (17), Evron Dore (19), Hiten Samtani (17), Vontwon Woodley (12), Keola Stevens (20), Dillon Richardson (18), Sydney Lewis (12) and Ronaldo Diaz (15).

Collectively, their printed images captured during the workshop were put on display for an exhibition.

In giving an overview of the workshop, Herbert said it “was a very successful workshop…I had a wonderful time.”

She shared the subject definition that “photography is the art or practice of taking pictures.”

“So basically, photography is like using your creative style to take different images, to tell a story, to capture a moment. There are also different types of photography such as abstract, animal, astro, aerial, black and white etc. We also learnt about different lenses such as the zoom lens and the prime lens,” Herbert added.

The two types of paper that photos are printed on namely matte and glossy was also a topic.

Additionally, she pointed out that they were taught about visa and passport rules and regulations noting that  “such as with visa, there is no eyewear to be worn when you are taking pictures, your ears must always show, your hair has to be up if it is down and you also have to have a straight and upward position.”

 “We learnt that when you are dissembling a camera, it is best to hold it downwards so that there is no dust would be able to enter the camera that can mess up the stencils because that would be a big problem. We learnt about the under exposure and the over exposure of picture; under exposure is when the lighting appears too dark and to over exposed is too bright and you might not receive all of the details of a photo,” Herbert shared.

Pertaining to more hands-on learning, she talked about the activities involving the drone which is “an unmanned vehicle controlled by a remote control for aerial photos of a landscape or wide area.”

For this area, the photography students were instructed on the different flight modes and also how to assemble and dissemble the device.

 “All in all we had a wonderful time at this camp. It’s a good experience and I think everyone should experience especially any young persons who is interested in photography and videography. It was a wonderful experience, I had a great time and I met many people; many people with different personalities,” Herbert said.

Speaking with this reporter ahead of the ceremony, she extended “A big thank you to Noel and his team for taking the time out to create this camp and think about the different activities for us to do.It was a really enjoyable one.”

Other participants expressed similar sentiments too.

Evron Dore-“I feel like this is the best thing I did all summer because I’ve been shooting for a year now and to see the amount of things that I was doing wrong, this really opened up my eyes to do better. With me trying to start my own business [Norvee 300 Photography & Designs], this has helped me even better so if I was good then I’m greater now. I would like to thank Eqnoxx for this workshop; I really appreciate it.”

Vontwon Woodley- “It was great because I learnt more stuff about cameras and drones. I take pictures with my phone but sometimes I would use my uncle’s Sony camera. I think this is something I want to so when I get older.”

Hiten Samtani –“Photography is really fun. It was better than I expected. It’s not that hard to take a photo and edit it. It’s really nice holding the camera. Flying the drone was also fun. I crashed the drone on my first try but on the second try I went slower so that it wouldn’t crash.”

Keola Stevens –“I would say it opened my understanding about photography more than what I knew already. I’ve learn a lot about taking pictures, how to edit and about the camera. Taking photos is more like a hobby but I’m really interested in photography.”

Dillon Richardson –“The workshop was an interesting one. I learnt new things. I already knew some of the basics of photography but I realized that there was much to be learnt, and I also met new people. It was a really fun one.”

Showing one of his images on the exhibition table, he explained: “This is a photo of the salt pond…and it came about when were about to do a landscape but I didn’t want to do any boring landscape so I tried to find something that was different so I came up with the idea to shoot inside the salt pond and this was the result.”

Nicholls informed this reporter that  the workshop was “better than I expected to the extent that we got a lot done but they surprised me with how far they caught onto certain things  so we  actually moved on to certain stuff that could have gone on over into another week.”

According to him, it is hoped that the camp would be an annual one.

Notably, Stevens, Herbert and Dore have been selected to undergo internship at Modern Elegance Photography that is seeking someone for full- time employment.

As understood, the company asked for three candidates and is expected to choose one.

These three individuals were chosen based on their participation and the product of work that they produced at the camp.

Nicholls has expressed gratitude to members of the local media for their support including this newspaper as well as Mulley Media, SKN Newsline, ZIZ and Carib Beacon Marketing Solutions.

He is also grateful for camp sponsors and contributors including St.Kitts-Nevis Carib Brewery Ltd., Mountain Top Water, Mac Pennies, TDC and Koscab (St.Kitts) Ltd.

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Thursday 15^th August 2019) –A combined total of 14 nationals from the Federation-four from Nevis and 10 from St.Kitts- are slated to depart the Federation later this month to pursue academic studies in the Republic of China (Taiwan) having been successfully selected as the 2019 recipients of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Taiwan Scholarship and the International Cooperative and Development Fund (ICDF) Scholarship.

A luncheon awards ceremony, organised by the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Ministry of Education of Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, was held yesterday (Wednesday) at the Ocean Terrace Inn (OTI) located at Fortlands in Basseterre.

Under the two programs, students’ airfare, housing, tuition and credit fees, textbook costs and monthly allowance will be covered. For MOFA, students are expected to undergo a one-year study of Mandarin language at different universities collectively before pursuing their academic interests.

The nine MOFA (9) awardees along with the respective language universities and their areas of interest are: Denrick Jeffers (China Medical University-Occupational Safety and Health), Kareem Parry (Center of Chinese Language, FuJen Catholic University-Computer Science), Nezrene Roberts (Chinese Language Education Center, National Taipei University of Education-Architecture), Xavier Smith ( Chinese Language Education Center, National Taipei University of Education-Criminal Justice), Dakeza Samuel (Chinese Language Education Center, National Dong Hwa University-Computer Science), Trefasana White (Chinese Language Education Center, National Taipei-International Business and Trade), Tronnicia Flanders (Finance), Javio Felix (Computer Science) and Jovelle Lawrence (Center of Chinese Language, FuJen Catholic University).

The five (5) ICDF awardees are: Brandon Frederick (National Pingtung of Science and Technology Undergraduate Program in Tropical Agriculture), Yazim Leader (Kun Shan University International Bachelor Program in Mechanical Engineering), Ruan Tonyce (Kun Shan University International Bachelor Program in Mechanical Engineering), Kendale Liburd (Yuan Ze University International Master’s Program in Industrial Engineering and Management) and Alicia Ajah De Silva (Ming Chuan University Undergraduate Program in Journalism and Mass Communication).

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Shawn Richards in addressing the scholarship recipients commented: “You are the most recent beneficiaries of the favourable diplomatic relations between our Federation and the Republic of China (Taiwan).”

“The Republic of China (Taiwan), through its embassy, has partnered with us in so many ways especially in the realm of education. Our nation’s development agenda continues to be supported by the Republic of China (Taiwan). Today’s ceremony is yet another way,” he also remarked.

According to the Education Minister, with respect to scholarships for undergraduate and post graduate studies, there is an average of twelve Taiwanese scholarships given annually.

“Undoubtedly, this is a very substantial investment by the Republic of China (Taiwan) in our young people. What makes this so tremendous is that while the overall cost of further education continues to rise, these are full scholarships which cater for such things as housing, tuition, insurance, text book costs, return airfare and credit fees and the awardees also receive a monthly allowance. What a tremendous opportunity these scholarship recipients are receiving,” he said.

Resident Taiwanese Ambassador to St. Kitts-Nevis Tom Lee spoke about the importance of education.

“Education is the key not only to your personal success and gains but also to your country’s development. That’s why as a strong ally of St.Kitts and Nevis Taiwan is very willing to make our contribution in this area…”

He pointed that more scholarship promotions will be carried by the embassy.

“This year, our embassy has done a lot of promotions and I myself also attended a radio talk show to promote our scholarship programme and this year we have 14 students compared to last year [13 students], we have one more. If you ask me whether I’m satisfied  or not… of course my answer is not and you can be rest assure that our embassy next year  will work even harder and make sure that we will have more students here.”

The Taiwanese ambassador congratulated all recipients and encouraged them to do their best in their home away from home.

“Taiwan is known for our generosity and hospitality so basically very soon you will find Taiwan your home away from home so I want to encourage you to make the most of your stay in Taiwan and study as hard as you can so when you come back to St.Kitts and Nevis, you can start making your contributions to your country.”

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Wednesday 14th August 2019) – A teenager blamed for the shooting death of Ponds Pasture resident 28-year-old Eric ‘Jun Jun’ Thompson has also been charged with using a gun the day after the February 2019 murder.

Police say 18-year-old Denny Harris of McKnight was charged for Thompson’s murder on Monday this week (12th August). 

Additionally, he was charged for the offence of Discharging a Firearm in a Public Place which was committed on February 12, 2019- the day after Thompson was killed.

Reportedly, at about 10 PM on Monday 11th February, Thompson had arrived at his home when he was shot several times about the body by a lone gunman. He was pronounced dead at the scene.