Meet the Recipients of the Belize Bank Scholarship Programme
The annual awarding of scholarships by the Belize Bank was held today. As many as eighteen students will now continue their studies in high schools and sixth forms across the country. The Belize Bank is making it possible for them to fulfil their dreams of earning higher education. Beaming with pride, the recipients received the scholarship awards to return to the classrooms this academic year. . They chosen from among a wider group of applicants based on needs, grades and merits. As we do every year, News Five’s was there to record the moment. Here is Duane Moody.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Eighteen students have been given an opportunity of a lifetime to further their education at the secondary and tertiary level courtesy of the Belize Bank. There were countless applicants for the eighth annual scholarship programme of the financial institution and today, twelve high school and six junior college students were issued full scholarships to attend the institution of their choice. Deputy C.E.O. of the Belize Bank, Filippo Alario, says that over one hundred students have benefited from the programme over the years.
Filippo Alario, Deputy C.E.O., Belize Bank Limited
Filippo Alario
“We have given over a hundred scholarships to deserving students—some of them are needs based, some of them are merit based; that’s what makes it very difficult to be able to chose the students that are going to get the scholarships. For that we have a selection committee with different retired teachers and members of the Ministry of Education who have been with us from the beginning. We have to thank Doctor Babb, who has been an absolute supporter of us and we feel that this programme has grown into something that maybe in the beginning we didn’t expect because now we have human faces.”
The event featured testimonials from past scholarship recipients, including one who is studying at Harvard University. It is a motivator for the students coming into the programme because it gives them an idea of the possibilities. One student who is taking advantage of the opportunity is Nigel Romero from Big Falls Village, Toledo. He was helped through Julian Cho Technical High School and is once again successful; this time for the tertiary level scholarship to pursue a bachelors degree in nursing at the University of Belize.
Nigel Romero
Nigel Romero, Scholarship Recipient
“It does three main things: it alleviates you and your family from majority of the financial constraints that you would experience; it will enable you to transition from one level of education to another; it will allow you to further your education and it will aid us all in becoming the people we aspire to be. In order to have been given a second chance to further my education to the tertiary level, I had to work tirelessly, I had to work consistently. I had to stay up late nights, study; I had to do research, SBAs and those are lot of work. I took science programme at high school.”
Susely Rodriguez is a graduate of Saint Joseph Primary School in Belize City and will be attending E.P. Yorke High School. Her ambition is to work at the Belize Bank and is overwhelmed that she was one of the chosen few.
Susely Rodriguez, Scholarship Recipient
Susely Rodriguez
“I didn’t believe it at first; that my hard work paid off. I tried my best and my dream and my mom’s dream of getting this scholarship came through. Receiving this scholarship is a big honour for me because I know it will help my mom a lot. It will help with all my high school tuition and it will take off some burden from my mother with the expenses.”
But the scholarship recipients won’t be doing it alone; the scholarship programme provides mentoring to the recipients.
Filippo Alario
“The mentorship programme is crucial for this scholarship because we believe that everybody has a part to play: student, teachers, family members. So the bank is not only giving the financial contribution, but is also giving a mentor, which is usually a senior member of the bank so that the child can come and talk to someone. Bring the report card and look at it and say you need to do better here or here. Or if they need to speak to someone that might not be the parents or the teachers; we provide that. And that’s been very crucial for us to get the type of success that we got.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
