By: Gavincia Clarke
Nevispages.com
(CHARLESTOWN, NEVIS)- A brief press conference was held at the Nevis Sixth Form College on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 when The Bank of Nevis made a donation to the Nevis Sixth Form College Literary and Debating Society.
Students of the Nevis Sixth Form College, teachers and principal of the school, Mr. Edson Elliot and the Marketing Manager at the Bank of Nevis, Mrs. Bronte Swanston-Hendrickson was present at the ceremony.
Director at the institution, Mrs. Pamela Williams gave brief introductory remarks. President of the Literary and Debating Society, Rochelle Wade then welcomed everyone to the ceremony. She also introduced the Marketing Manager at the Bank of Nevis, Mrs. Bronte Swanston-Hendrickson to address the gathering.
Mrs. Swanston in her remarks noted that the Bank of Nevis was happy to assist the debaters in their endeavors. She was happy to announce that the sponsorship cheque from the Bank would cover the airfare cost for two of the debaters. She further noted that The Bank of Nevis is committed to the development of young people and the development of Education.
She highlighted the positives in developing debating skills: ‘It builds strong minds; develops critical thinking. It teaches you to think on your feet and to think outside of the box. It boosts your confidence; develops your leadership skills and these skills are useful when you need to prove your point or build a business case’.
She told the students that these skills will come in handy when they shortly enter the world of work. She also noted that the students may well have to ‘support’ certain arguments within the upcoming debates that they may not necessarily agree with in real life situations. She pointed out that the skills they would have learnt would hold them in good stead.
Mrs. Swanston-Hendrickson, ‘Debates are not won by how loudly you raise your voice but how well your arguments are developed,’ she warned in closing. She then handed the cheque over to Director at the Sixth Form College, Mrs. Pamela Pemberton, who in turn, promptly handed it over to President of the Debating Society, Rochelle Wade. Ms Wade thanked the Bank of Nevis for the kind gesture and wished them well in their future endeavors.
The donation made will contribute to the debating team that will be travelling to Antigua to represent Nevis in the annual Leeward Islands Debate Competition.
Wade then introduced Duryan Cozier who in turn introduced the entire Nevis team as follows:
Kha-lis Farrell
Clayticia Daniel
De-Jono Liburd
Theon Tross
Duryan Cozier
Mario Phillip
Tameka Vyphuis- Standby
Rochelle Wade
He stated that the teams for the upcoming debates had already been determined as follows:
1st debate: Duryan Cozier and Theon Tross
2nd debate: De-Jono Liburd and Cha-lis Farrell—assisted by Tameka Vyphuis
3rd debate: Clayticia Daniel and Mario Phillip
The third debate will only be on if Nevis qualifies for the finals but Cozier was confident that his team will be in the finals.
Words of thanks were also expressed by Mrs. Pemberton who assured the Nevisian public that the students were preparing assiduously and will definitely give a good account of the team.
Theon Tross also announced similar sentiments and also beseeched the Nevisian public to continue to support the worthy cause.
He thanked the following institutions and individuals for their contributions thus far:
Social Security
RBTT Bank
Bank of Nevis
Hamoron Services
The Hon. Mark Brantley
The 41st Leeward Islands debating series is set to commence in Antigua on Wednesday, February 20, 2013.