WTISD Essay Competition winner Joshua Wheatley of the St. Georges Secondary School receives the School's Champion Trophy from Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communications and Works, Mrs Arlene Smith- Thompson. Photo: Reuben Stoby/VINO

Mr. Wheatley’s essay was deemed the best from a field of more than 70 entries from the seven secondary schools in the Territory and has been awarded a trip for two to attend the ITU Telecom World Conference in Geneva, Switzerland from October 24-27, 2011.

The young man also received an iPad with free internet for one year thanks to LIME, and an engraved plaque and $1,000 as spending money in Switzerland at the presentation ceremony today June 8, 2011, at the Moorings Marina Inn restaurant.

Princess London of the Bregado Flax Educational Centre receives the Champions' Schools Trophy from her Principal Mr. Paul Fenty.

The other school champions were First Runner-up Teshawn Smith of the Technical and Vocational Institute, Second Runner-up Princess London of the Bregado Flax Educational Centre, Thyrone Smith of the Cedar International School, Sabrina Clarke of the Claudia Creque Educational Centre, Jamoia Jennings of the Elmore Stoutt High School and Johanna Thomas of the Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School. They all received an iPad and an engraved plaque.

Meanwhile, Wheatley told VINO he was very proud of his achievement and that he had ‘burned the midnight oil’ for his success. “I was up late at nights reading, reviewing the paper over and over and over to make sure everything was perfect.”

The winning essay was about medicine and the choice for Wheatley was very simple. “I wrote about medicine because I am looking forward to going into the field of medicine. I would like to become a doctor.”

The Essay Competition was organized by the TRC in observance of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, which was held on May 17 under the theme “Moulding Your Future Through Technology”.

TRC’s Director of Human Resources (HR) Karia Christopher said the  TRC along with other stakeholders in the telecommunication sector went into the secondary  schools to make fourth and fifth form students aware of the career opportunities that were available in that sector. They were then asked to submit a one page essay on the topics discussed. She said all of the schools submitted some “great” essays.

The Schools' Champions! Front row, from left: Teshawn Smith of the Technical and Vocational Institute, Joshua Wheatley of the St. George's Secondary School, Princess London of the Bregado Flax Educational Centre; Middle row, from left: Sabrina Clarke of the Claudia Creque Educational Centre, Johanna Thomas of the Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School, Jamoia Jennings of the Elmore Stoutt High School and Thyrone Smith of the Cedar International School. Also in picture are Minister for Education and Culture Hon. Andrew Fahie (left back row), TRC Board Chairman Collin Scatliffe (2nd left, back row) and Mrs Smith-Thompson (right). Photo: Reuben Stoby/VINO

Chairman of the TRC Board Mr. Collin Scatliffe said all of the participants were winners as they understood the importance of new technology in today’s world. He also said the essay competition was one of the initiatives to promote the importance of telecommunication technology. “This annual celebration was used to help raise awareness to the possibilities that the use of the internet and other communication technology, ICT as it is called, can bring to societies and economies as well as ways in which it can bridge the digital divide.”

Members of the audience applaud the achievement of the seven essay winners.

He also said the essay competition taken into secondary schools by the TRC, shows that it has begun the process of moulding the minds of the future leaders of the Virgin Islands into utilizing their educational skills and combining them with technology to generate positive results.

Minister for Education and Culture, Hon. Andrew Fahie thanked the TRC and its sponsors, which included LIME and BVI Cable TV, for having the essay competition in the secondary schools. He said technology was not going out anytime soon and it was important to have children more acquainted with technology “in terms of how it can help us in the territory”.

Meanwhile, tokens of appreciation were also presented to the judges of the essay competition. They were Dr. Bryan Penn, Mr. Elroy Turnbull, Ms. Fiona Forbes, Mrs. Jennie Wheatley, Mrs. Josephine Callwood, Mrs. Judy Haycraft, Ms. Sally Cox, Mr. Thomas Lamanauskas and Mr. Vincent Wheatley.