Holy Redeemer Wins History & Social Studies Competition
The Belize City Primary School History and Social Studies Competition ended today at the Bliss. Eight students from schools across the city competed to answer from a list of eight questions that tested the participants’ knowledge about historical facts about Belize. The competition is part of the public education campaign being carried out by the Belize City House of Culture and the Downtown Rejuvenation Project. Reporter Andrea Polanco spoke with the standard-five student who correctly answered his way to first place.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Dwight Gillett of Holy Redeemer is the winner of this year’s Belize City Primary School History and Social Studies Competition. After several rounds of questions about Belize’s culture, significant dates, catastrophes, geography, notable leaders and historic buildings and events, the eleven-year-old correctly answered all the questions and beat out seven other students for the top prize.
Dwight Gillett
Dwight Gillett, 1st Place Winner
“Right now I feel great that I won some amazing prizes. And I can’t wait until tonight so I will get treated.”
Andrea Polanco
“How did you prepare for this competition?”
Dwight Gillett
“Most of the time I would take a long while but as soon as I progress and know more of the answers, I started to go shorter but I think it all paid off now paid off now.”
Andrea Polanco
“Did you learn anything new – anything different that you didn’t about Belize?”
Dwight Gillett
“I learnt a lot about Belize and I can’t wait to tell my sister that I won.”
Andrea Polanco
“What surprised you the most about what you learnt?”
Dwight Gillett
“That there is a lot of information about Belize that I never knew.”
The competition, which is in its third year, is being used to build awareness of Belize’s history among the youth and to inspire them to take action to preserve our roots.
Albert Avila
Albert Avila, Community Liaison Officer, Downtown Rejuvenation Project
“The history is not in our curriculum. So, a lot of people don’t know about our history. When I started with this project, I didn’t know much about history and because of the work I do, I have had to learn a lot about our history. I have found out how interesting our history is – and I believe that if people are following the competition, the students that are studying it and listening to the questions, I think it is going to build that civic pride and it will hopefully build a culture for us to preserve and protect our history and culture.”
And second the place finisher, standard-five student Tyrone McKoy of St. Ignatius Primary School, says he challenged himself to learn the history of Belize – and it paid off big time.
Tyrone McKoy
Tyrone McKoy, 2nd Place Winner
“I feel great seeing how this is my first time in any official competition and so I am not that sad. I studied hard and it paid it.”
Andrea Polanco
“Why did you decide that this is the competition you wanted to be in?”
Tyrone McKoy
“Because I know I have great potential and when I put my mind to something I can do it.”
Andrea Polanco
“Do you like history? Do you like learning about Belize?”
Tyrone McKoy
“I like learning about Belize because this whole competition teach me things I didn’t know.”
Andrea Polanco
“Tell me something you learnt that you didn’t know before?”
Tyrone McKoy
“That the Fort George area was between a creek before it was annexed to the City.”
This competition is part of a bigger initiative. This is just one of the “soft components” of the Belize City Downtown Rejuvenation Project. Avila explains that a competition like this helps to draw attention the downtown area of Belize City that you may not always associate with history – and this will help to build stewardship for this area.
Albert Avila
“We are using the competition to highlight what our project is about, which is to preserve and try to rejuvenate downtown Belize City. As you may know, Belize City was started in 1638, so right now we are moving to our four hundredth anniversary. Right here downtown on Albert Street and Regent Street that is where everything started. So, over the years, downtown Belize City, people are moving out going to Coney Drive, Ladyville, so a little bit at a time, downtown is become less and less the place to go. And because of its history and the culture of the south side community, our project wants to make sure that it doesn’t become dysfunctional; that we always remember the importance of downtown.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
Cash prizes, computers, and other prizes were given out to the winners.
