Digi Awards 25 Full High School Scholarships

Digi held its scholarship reception programme this morning in Belize City. Twenty-five students from around the country were all recipients this year. The full scholarships are awarded for the four years of high school. Digi boasts of a high success rate in their program. The telecom provider says that many past scholars work in management positions and several have gone on to work at the company. News Five was at today’s ceremony. Reporter Andrea Polanco tells us more.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Twenty-five students received full high school scholarships from Digi.  The value of each scholarship is estimated at two-thousand dollars per school year. The students received tuition costs, books, as well as uniform stipend. Digi also monitors the progress in school and assists with tutoring to ensure the scholars perform well in school. The recipients are from across Belize. Digi’s Scholarship Coordinator Anika Henry says that they were chosen based on need and outstanding grades.

Anika Henry

Anika Henry, Scholarship Coordinator, Digi

“Whenever you apply for the scholarship programme, it is a two-fold process. You put in your application and then you get called to an interview. So, in the interview there is an actual interview and a written portion. So, we look at different things like your standard four, standard five and standard six report card. We also look at your financial need. We look at the different areas in the country because of course we don’t want to limit it to one area. We want to help as many students as we can. So, there are different criteria that we look for. We wish we could provide for everyone but unfortunately we can’t. So, we came up with these twenty-five students and they are well deserving kids. They are smart. They are energetic. And, of course, they can’t really afford to go to school unless they get the assistance.”

Each recipient received a certificate today and they signed their scholarship contracts as they were officially inducted into the Digi Scholarship Program. Asia Flores and Kyle Nicholson are two of this year’s recipients.

Asia Flores

Asia Flores, St. Catherine’s Academy

“I decided to apply for this scholarship because my grade is good. I know I will make the Digi Scholarship Program proud and I will keep up my grades.  When I go to high school, you study from third form, so I will study arts because I want to be a lawyer.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, who inspired you?”

Asia Flores

“My auntie Shanta.”

Kyle Nicholson

Kyle Nicholson, Corozal Community College

“I feel so proud and happy.This scholarship is very helpful for my family because of the financial need. It is not quick for money to come to us. You have to work hard. So, this will help my family because I have a littlebrother that is going to school.”

These twenty-five students join over six hundred others who have benefitted or are benefitting from the program since it started back in 1991. Henry says the scholarships form only a small part of Digi’s giving back to the community.

Anika Henry

“As a good corporate citizen, Digi is always looking for ways to give back to the kids. Community outreach. We do a lot of things. We recently had our summer camp program. We focus on a lot of community initiatives. We go into sports; ICT and we recently had Digi Learn that we rolled out to nine schools. We will be going into more schools. We have a host of activities that Digi does as good corporate citizens.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.