Scotiabank Assist with Scholarships for South Side

Howell Gillett

The 2017 school year is winding down quickly, but the Belize Police Department and Scotia Bank are already thinking ahead to the next academic calendar.  That partnership has seen the availability of as many as fifteen one-year scholarships to be offered to primary school students on the south side of Belize City.  There are only two requirements to qualify.  Firstly, students must come from low-income households and they must have a grade point average of seventy-five or above to make the cut.  Senior Superintendent Howell Gillett discussed how the scholarship opportunities came about.

Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, Regional Commander, Region One, Eastern Division

“I just came out of a meeting a few moments ago with Scotia Bank where we’ll be offering fifteen scholarships to kids on the Region One side of Belize City.  I’m sorry that we couldn’t offer to the entire city, but that’s the area that I’m in charge of and forms are available at the Raccoon Street Police Station.  Anybody could come, and there are two caveats to it: you must be living in a low-income family and you must be averaging seventy-five or above.  And there are so many kids, despite their circumstances, that are doing very well just by some of the forms that have been filled.  There’s a little girl who is living in a low-income family and who is averaging ninety-two and that’s amazing and we’re so happy to be helping them.  So there’s a lot to be done to help our young people so that for the basic reason we wouldn’t want to be going through this another two to five to ten years, as I said before, so we are moving headlong into helping young people and I believe that’s very strategic and there are many other stakeholders coming onboard, including international agencies who want to help us.”