PathLight Scholarships Awarded to New Cohort of Students
Sixty-nine academic scholarships have been awarded to high school, sixth form and undergraduate students across the country, as part of PathLight Belize’s annual financial assistance program. This morning at UWI’s Open Campus auditorium, students and parents were in attendance for the presentation of those grants. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Jahel Smith
Jahel Smith, Scholarship Recipient
“I feel very happy and excited at the same time because now I have my future set and it’s all planned out the way I expected it to be. I feel very thankful, grateful and happy that they could help me out with my journey.”
Students at various levels of academic life were awarded scholarships to pursue further studies at secondary and tertiary institutions in the country. Those grants were made possible through PathLight Belize, an independent organization that has been providing financial assistance to students since 2009.
Erica Clother-Joseph
Erica Clother-Joseph, Country Director, S+ Program
“We started with fifteen students in 2009 and we are going to be starting the new school year 2023/2024 with two hundred and thirty-four active scholarship recipients. Today we are awarding sixty-nine new scholarship awardees for our program. We gave today fifty high school scholarships.”
Among the recipients is Jahel Smith. She is the valedictorian for the graduating class of 2023 at Solomon’s Seventh Day Adventist Primary School. Having completed primary school, she is moving on to Muffles College in Orange Walk.
Jahel Smith
“I’m planning to study IT because I want to be an IT specialist when I get older.”
PathLight’s complementary programs provide access to quality education, exceptional mentoring, as well as life-changing transformational experiences. These activities are endorsed by the Ministry of Education.
Louis Zabaneh
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of State, Education
“It’s not just the fact that they are getting opportunities to access, it’s that PathLight also gives an additional layer of support that has to do with especially what we are promoting in our curriculum reform. It has to do with the attitudes and values and also the development of skills because these kids also get opportunities to do projects together and that builds their skills, applying their knowledge in the real world. So we are so grateful for the partnership that the Ministry of Education has with PathLight, we’re grateful for all those who support PathLight financially. Pathlight has a really great cadres of professionals, educators who have a lot of experience and they’ve come together to be able to support our young people in this very, very important way.”
Scholarships made available through PathLight provide access to tuition, uniforms, books, tutoring, as well as transportation. According to Erica Clother-Joseph, the Country Director for the S+ Program, applications are submitted, financial needs are reviewed, and a selection process is carried out to shortlist the candidates.
Erica Clother-Joseph
“We went through an interview process and we selected fifty of them. This year, we had over three hundred applicants so the selection process was very, very tough for us, but we ended up with fifty students, fifteen in Belize City, fifteen in Belmopan and twenty in Orange Walk. Now when it comes to the tertiary scholarships, those are for students that are already in the programs, so we don’t take public applications for those. So the students who are already in the programs and they have performed well over their past four years in high school or would have done extremely well in their associates degree and would want to move ahead, then we assess their performance and we consider giving them a scholarship to move ahead.”
Isani Cayetano for News Five.
