Jamaica-based Youths for Excellence (YFE), recently began its Math Career Webinar, titled “Math Chattingz,” that will continue to broadcast live on national news outlets, in Jamaica, Guyana, Grenada, Barbados, and Trinidad & Tobago, until June 5.
Jenine Shepherd, founder and CEO, of the multi-national international award winning NGO, said the purpose of Math Chattingz is to encourage primary and secondary school students in the Caribbean to engage more with math and math-related subjects, and expose them to a greatly diversified range of careers.
The event will be divided into five segments: Arts & Design, Environment, Health, Tech & Engineering, and Entertainment. For each segment, distinguished guests will present on a myriad of fields including but not limited to architectural design, food science, neuroscience, astronautics engineering, sports analytics, and film production, said Shepherd.
Speakers are Vidia Roopchand, principal research scientist at Pfizer who was instrumental in developing the COVID-19 vaccine, Kirk Anthony-Hamilton, founder of the Infiniti Partnership Inc. and Tech Beach Retreat, Camille Selvon Abrahams, founder of Full Circle Animation Studio, Daimian Hines, founder of Hines Architecture and Design and designer of the new Jamaica House of Parliament.
She noted, that between segments, YFE will host a variety of fun activities including the Expert Explains Series, the Global Problem Solver Series, the Who Said This Feature and a Games Night, which you definitely cannot afford to miss!
Throughout the month there will be opportunities for students and educators to win prizes such as food gift baskets, free health checkups, phone credit, school supplies, tablets and more! Shepherd thanked sponsors Digicel and Sagicor for their support of this venture. Prizes will be presented on June 18 at the various ministries of education.
Shepherd said such a noteworthy event has garnered the interest of the ministries of education in the five participating territories and as such, the webinar will feature keynote addresses from the ministers of education and the ministers of health, culture and development within each country. Prime Minister Ralph Gonzales of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Minister Fayval Williams and Minister Olivia Grange of Jamaica, Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly of Trinidad and Tobago and Minister Santia Bradshaw of Barbados are among the government officials slated to speak at this forum.
Additionally, the United Nations has endorsed this initiative with Denise Antonio, the United Nations Development Program Resident Representative for Jamaica, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, being scheduled to speak at the opening Ceremony.
Youths for Excellence is a registered charity for the holistic development of underserved youth, founded in 2015 by President and Board Co-Chair Jénine Shepherd, when she was 17 years of age because she recognized the effects of social and economic deprivation on young children at schools in Jamaica.
Since its inception, YFE has championed a holistic method of educational intervention. The organization has assisted children to receive not only textbooks but also tablets, health check-ups, travel passes, lunch passes, and resources for their parents to facilitate employment.
YFE earned recognition from the Prime Minister Office via a Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Nation Building in 2018 and has maintained the support of his office by being allowed to host its inaugural Back to School Event there in 2019. 24 corporate and government agencies signed on to support the event, Digicel, JUTC, RJR and GraceKennedy amongst them.
The organization has been featured in Barbados Today, Jamaica Observer, JIS, Caribbean Life News and so many other national news outlets across the region for its growing presence in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Grenada. All of its work has been completely voluntary and the organization hopes to inspire more people to join the fight.
For latest initiatives, promotions and content, go to Instagram (@youthsforexcellence), Twitter (@YFEIntl) and Facebook (@Youths For Excellence). www.youthsforexcellence.org
