Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 27, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): On Tuesday morning four students of the Tucker Clarke and Irishtown Primary Schools received The William Marcus Natta Memorial Scholarship.
The 2023 Natta Scholars are Talania Stapleton and Keith Hicks of the Tucker Clarke Primary School and Glenny Warner and Jayden Vanterpool of the Irishtown Primary School.
Scholarship Fund Chairman Dr. Marcus Natta explained how the Natta Scholars were chosen.
“We received eleven worthy applicants for this year’s scholarship awards and the scholarship committee had quite a task in choosing, as we do every year. Now, like any other scholarship, academic standing is important. However, our scholarship is very different and it places a stronger emphasis on the financial need of the student, the quality of character of the student and the civic mindedness of the student.”
Speaking on the ceremony’s theme “Courage to Stand out” Chief Investment Officer of the Eastern Caribbean Home Mortgage Bank Chay Grant encouraged the students to be courageous in all areas of their life and take advantage of the opportunities offered through the scholarship.
“You may not want to be an investment banker like me. You may want to be a musician. You may want to be a nurse. You may want to be a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer or whatever you may be. What I want you to get from this message is that you should one, have the courage to stand out, identify the things that you need to do to stand out and lastly, how standing out could positively impact your life,” he said. “Take advantage of the opportunities that you have been afforded from this scholarship and to those who did not get the scholarship, I would like to encourage you to continue to achieve what you set out to do.”
In keeping with the theme, Parliamentary Representative for constituency #2 Hon. Marsha Henderson congratulated the students on their accomplishments and encouraged them to continue to stand out.
“It pays, as Mr. Grant says, to stand out. It pays to stand out. It means you can be your authentic self. I want to encourage you to stand out. Show up all the time, as you’ve been doing, and stand out. I want to congratulate all of you, even though only four of you would emerge in terms of getting the scholarships. But all of you have stood out. The mere fact that you’re here this morning, it means that you’ve done well and I want to encourage you to continue to stand up. I want to encourage the parents to continue to work with your children.”
Meanwhile Parliamentary Representative for Constituency #1 Hon. Dr. Geoffrey Hanley told the scholars to remain focused.
“This seed that is sown into you this morning through the William Natta Scholarship Foundation, is a seed that once you continue to water it with the right values, you will be surprised to see how it blossoms into a botanical garden. And you will be able to someday bless someone the way how you are being blessed today. It doesn’t matter where you start out. As I said, it is your determination that will allow you to reach where you want to reach and students don’t allow anybody to define.”
The Natta Scholarship founding committee started the Scholarship Fund at Tucker-Clarke Primary School (2010) and extended the scholarship to students of the Irishtown Primary School in 2016. The Board of Trustees hopes to expand the Scholarship Fund to other primary schools on St. Kitts and Nevis as the Scholarship Fund grows.
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