By Lesroy W. Williams Observer Reporter
” (Basseterre, St .Kitts)”St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Trading and Development Co. Ltd continued its long tradition of giving back to the community when it awarded two Kittitians and two Nevisians the Michael L. King Honorary Scholarship Grant on Oct. 27. Justin Johnson and Shaline Welcome from St. Kitts and Janesha Daniel and Shelissa Smithen from Nevis received US$5,000 for a period of one year.” The handing over ceremony was chaired by TDC Human Resource Manager, Mr. Dennis Knight, and was attended by representatives of the award recipients, TDC staff, and officials from the Ministry of Education, and the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College. Mr. Osmond Petty represented the Ministry of Education at the ceremony and gave brief remarks, in which he said that the persons who were awarded possessed some level of need and were rewarded for their academic excellence. Chairman of the TDC Group of Companies, Mr. D. Michael Morton, who gave the feature address, said that TDC is about the empowerment of people. “Today is another proud moment in the history of TDC.” In 1973 when TDC began, the company realized that its greatest resource would be its people and it was at that point that the company committed itself to the empowerment of people through a number of opportunities,” Mr. Morton said. “Enabling developing, TDC has done that throughout the years, and if we look at the opportunities that we have provided through the development much of it can be attributed to the fact that we have invested in education and in people,” Mr. Morton said. Mr. Morton reminded those gathered of the Warren Tyson Scholarship Program which is awarded to each and every high school for one student going into the first form each year. “Today, we can look with much pride at the accomplishments of many of the recipients who hold leadership positions in the Federation,” Mr. Morton said. “Warren Tyson, our first Chairman, like Michael King, was committed to the empowerment of people.” “Without the development of our people, TDC would not be able to develop and prosper,” Mr. Morton said. In granting the award, a selection committee was set out to process applications according to a set criterion. 22 applications were received by the committee: 17 were received from St. Kitts and five from Nevis. The criteria for the award was: one, each applicant must have demonstrated an intention to return to St. Kitts and Nevis after their period of study; two, they must be willing to pursue business related subjects, culture, engineering or pharmacology; three, they must be full time in a tertiary education program; four, they must be citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis and reside in the Federation; and five, they cannot be staff members of TDC. Mr. Michael L. King was a former Director of TDC who was with the TDC Group of Companies from its inception in 1973. He semi-retired as Chairman and CEO in February 2001 and fully in February 2007. He resides overseas.” Mr. Morton said that Michael King was proud to associate his name with the scholarship. “Today, I want to say to the scholarship recipients that we are looking for more things from you, we are looking for leadership from you, we are looking for you to come back and make your contribution not necessarily to TDC but to our Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis,” Mr. Morton told the awardees.”””””
