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| TDC Chairman Michael Morton addresses the audience at the 3rd Michael L. King Honorary Scholarship Grant Award Presentation Ceremony |
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From the depths of despair, Shaline Welcome’s mood quickly turned to elation upon the receipt of a telephone call that possibly saved her college career back in 2008. The call was from a TDC representative informing her that she had won a Michael L. King Honorary Scholarship Grant, which became a decisive factor in her ability to successfully complete her studies.
“I was actually sitting in my dorm room, and I was crying,” she recollected. “I called home and said to my mother-in-law, ‘All these unbudgeted expenses that I’m seeing now that I’m here at college, … I think I’m going to pack up and come home, because I don’t want to start something that I can’t continue.’
“As soon as I hung up the phone, there was a lady on the other line who was calling from TDC, and she said, ‘May I speak to Shaline Welcome, please? … I’m calling from TDC to inform you that you are one of the winners of the Michael L. King Scholarship.’ I couldn’t speak; I was crying, more,” Welcome told the audience at the 3rd Award Presentation Ceremony on Wednesday, July 14, at the TDC Head Office on Fort Street.
The 2010 Scholarship Awardees announced at the ceremony were Kishmoe Cornelius (Management Information Studies – Florida Memorial University) and Randolph Prentice (Marketing – Florida Memorial University) from St. Kitts; and Kamesha Sutton (Business Administration – Cameron University) and Ramie Wilkinson (Finance and Economics – Midwestern State University) from Nevis.
Wilkinson spoke for the other recipients when she asserted, “The TDC group of companies should be greatly acknowledged for their participation in helping the youth further their education. … It is in part due to TDC that our Federation shall be filled with young successful individuals, and a foundation to build a brighter and better future.”
The sentiments expressed by Wilkinson were similar in tone to the remarks made by TDC Chairman Michael Morton, in which he extolled his company’s dedication to furthering the educations pursuits of the nation’s youth.
“These grants signify TDC’s continuing contribution to nation building, and more specifically, our ongoing commitment to the field of education,” he said.
Pointing to a plaque displaying past scholarship award winners for the period of 1981 – 2006, Morton said, “They [the students] stand there suitably inscribed, a show of our commitment to the success of these individuals, and to inspire all of the other young people on what they can accomplish if they only apply themselves and work hard.”
The Chairman also touted the Michael L. King Advanced Education Scholarship program, which provides opportunities for company employees to pursue diplomas, certificates and degree programs, both locally and abroad. He revealed that during the last financial year, 14 employees pursued first-, or second-degree programs abroad, and another 10 utilized distance-learning facilities to do so. In addition, 19 persons completed the University of the West Indies Open Campus’ Supervisory Course, and one finished a Parenting Skills program.
According to TDC-furnished information, the Michael L. King Honorary Scholarship Grant, is aimed at providing assistance for students pursuing university degrees at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels in a wide variety of subjects, including Agriculture, Architecture, Accounting, Business Management, Construction Management, Economics, Engineering, Information Technology, and Pharmacology.
Citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis are eligible for the grant who have been accepted for full-time university studies and intend to return after the completion of their degrees, and are normally resident in the Federation.
A cumulative GPA of 3.0, or higher, must be maintained by winners of the scholarship, which has a value of US$5000 per calendar year.
Past scholarship winners from 2009 are: Sanchez Rawlins (Management Information Systems – Florida Memorial University, Miami) and Vanessa Kelly-Bowry (Literatures in English – University of the West Indies, Barbados) from St. Kitts; and Amber Lescott (Business Administration – Florida Memorial University) and Karishna Tross (Economics – University of the West Indies, Trinidad & Tobago) from Nevis.
For 2008, the winners were the aforementioned Shaline Welcome (Hospitality Management – Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute), and Justin Johnson (Finance – Florida Memorial University) from St. Kitts; and Shelissa Smithen (Accounting – Cameron University, Oklahoma) and Janesha Daniel (Accounting – Andrews University, Michigan) from Nevis.
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