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Two month ago United Way TCI embarked on a 3 Series Community Conversation to discuss ways to improve our country’s literacy rate, through our programs and initiatives. We hosted Canapés & Conversation for the ladies, Grazing & Conversation for the men and Playground & Conversation for the children. Our children’s conversation started with enrolling 65 children between the ages of 7-12 in a three weeks Enrichment Program where they were assessed and put into groups that matches their academic and social skills. It is now weeks 3 and we are so proud to put them on display for our community. We have learned so much from them and about them, which we will be using to create more fun learning programs for them. We set out on a journey focusing on the ones that needed the academic support, but along the way, because we had a mixed group of children, we realized that we have some very brilliant minds that if not mentored can lead down wrong paths. We discovered some smart and influential children. These children are not interested in traditional careers, they want to be You Tubers, Tictokers, Gymnast, Dancers, Models and whilst they are great careers, the children seem to think that it can be achieved without going to school, why waste their time in school when money can be made easily overnight. This mindset is dangerous and we have to guide them. Therefore, we were happy to have members of our community present to share in this conversation. It was an awesome event, we had representatives from the Government, such as Hon. Rachel Taylor Minister Of Education, Mr. Edgar Howell & Ms Elisann Delancy Education Department, Mrs Kordell Forbes Principal Louise Thomas High, past Min Of Edu. Hon. Karen Malcolm, United Way TCI Board Chairman Mr Mark Fulford, Board Vice Chairman Mr Rex Messam, Bord Treasurer Mrs Snjenza Andrews, community business partners such as Mr Drexwell Seymour, Mr Carl Mills, community influencers and volunteers Mrs Melanie Smith, Mr Andy Missick, & Mr. Antwon Walkin, Miss Danya Russell Teen Grand Turk who is also a UW Volunteer, and our community groups, such as Grace Bay Resorts, Rotaract Club Jeffery Nicolas, Community Kind Waterloo Investment Holding Group, & Beaches Turks &Caicos and our parents were present to share in this wonderful conversation, as we engaged the children while they played. Topics about school life and future plans were discussed, you see they are not too young to start planning their future and we are here to guide them. Overall it was an amazing day, with food, play, & laughs. The food was sponsored by Beaches Turks & Caicos and Grace Bay Resorts. The goal for this program was to help 65 students improve their Reading, Math & Science skills through fun learning activities. I can truly say that we have accomplished that goal and the children got an opportunity to display some of their learning and fun activities with community partners, which left them feeling valued, inspired and confident.
