Miss Universe Belize Scholarship Initiative
Pre-primary and primary schools are to reopen on September seventh, but for distance learning only, meanwhile high school classes resume in October. But given the dire economic times, families are finding it hard to cover school expenses for virtual classes. Well, Miss Universe Belize Destinee Arnold announced this morning that eighteen students from across Belize will be the lucky recipients of a one thousand-dollar scholarship each from her to be used for their tuition fees, books or supplies needed for the school year. News Five spoke with the beauty ambassador about this initiative, which she says is one of several activities that she has done to assist her village in Roaring Creek and the country.
Destinee Arnold
Destinee Arnold, Miss Universe Belize 2019
“We all know that right now, our country is under pressure. Every day, we are receiving news that we have more cases of COVID-19—we are losing young people, old people, middle-aged people and I needed to do something to give us some kind of hope; to let people know that I am here for them in any capacity that I am able to be. I am obviously a bit far away, but my heart is still with everyone. I knew that education is an area where I can lift that burden. And hopefully this scholarship funding is a way for them to understand that yes we are very isolated in the call to social distance from one another, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t join forces in other ways like this. At the beginning of the pandemic, I gave away money to families across Roaring Creek Village that were struggling at the start of the lockdown. That was very low-key, a lot of people didn’t know about that cause it was very intimate between me and my village. This, I want to make sure that I am touching as many corners as I can across Belize so that’s why I am reaching to nine different areas. So it is all districts along with three other areas which include San Pedro, Caye Caulker and Belmopan. I already know that I am going to have a hard time picking only two people from those nine areas, but I mean if I could give more I could, but right now this is all I can do and I am really excited about it and I can’t wait to see how it all turns out and how it has a positive effect on our community in these dire times.”
Personal letters are to be submitted to arnold.destinee@yahoo.com. Those letters will be vetted and then the eighteen awardees, one female and one male from each area, will be selected.
