AWARDEE Sheleza Reid with her cheque. (Quacy Sampson photo)

SHELEZA Reid, a former student of the Anna Regina Secondary School (ARSS) on the Essequibo Coast, was yesterday awarded the 12th annual Anne Blue Scholarship.

At the presentation ceremony, in the National Centre for Educational Research Development (NCERD) building, Lot 3 Battery Road, Kingston, Georgetown, it was stated that the awardee placed third in this country, from results of the 2006 Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) tests.

Reid received the first instalment of $20,000 as part of the total $250,000 benefit for a six-year period to pursue studies in Guyana.

She satisfied the criteria for selection through high scholastic achievement, active participation in co-curricular activities and exemplary conduct, having gained 10 grade ones with eight distinctions and one double award and one grade two at the CSEC.

Reid had been the class representative, prefect, a member of the Environmental Club, an athlete, belonged to the ‘Green Walk’ team and was an ardent Bible Club member at ARSS.

Speaking at the function, Minister within the Ministry of Education, Dr. Desrey Fox encouraged other students to emulate Reid, pursue career goals and get involved in educational pursuits, to also qualify for the Anne Blue benefit.

Never stop dreaming to reach the highest peak in education,” Fox advised the students.

She saluted teachers, too, on helping with the excellent performance, acknowledging: “Our children have done well.”

Fox disclosed that, earlier yesterday, she visited several city schools and was impressed with the dedication of teachers and students who did not have adequate space in their tiny Home Economics Departments but used tables to demonstrate how a bed should be made up.

Minister Fox said, despite the shortcomings, students know how to excel with good morals.

She appealed to more city students to apply for the annual Anne Blue Scholarship after observing that only one entry was submitted from Georgetown this year.

Fox commended members of the Anne Blue Committee for their sterling effort at raising enough funds for the 2007 scholarship and supporting Guyanese students to pursue studies locally.

Reid hopes to become a civil engineer and will study at the University of Guyana and conditions for retention of the scholarship are that:

* the awardee may opt to pursue the two-year sixth form programme and then enter UG for four years and

* the awardee may enter UG after successfully completing CSEC but gaining admission to a university other than UG would result in a nominee being disqualified.

After receiving the cheque from local Anne Blue Representative, Ms. Magda Pollard, Reid said she was honoured to receive such an award and the second sibling in her family also thanked her parents and teachers, as well as officials of the Ministry of Education.

Reid will get a further $30,000 at the start of her second year at UG and, at the beginning of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth years, she would be given the balance in $50,000 instalments.

Anne Elizabeth Candace Blue was born at the Georgetown Hospital on June 11, 1956, she died on July 5, 1993, in the prime of her life and her parents set up the scholarship scheme in remembrance of her avid passion to help others in the education sector.

Anne Blue attended St Gabriel’s Primary School and Bishops’ High School in Guyana, Eastham and Westham colleges in England and studied at the London Hospital of Nursing, Hunter College, New York and Hofstra University Law Division, Hamstead, also in New York.

Anne Blue was a nurse, an attorney-at-law, teacher and real estate broker.

The scholarship overseeing group, which includes her parents and other family members, raises funds every year to award a Guyanese student for studies locally.

The mission statement of Anne Blue Scholarship Award is to offer young people a chance to realise their potential and accomplish their goals, by assisting them to complete their high school education, affording them the opportunity to pursue higher education and fostering academic excellence through competition. (MICHEL OUTRIDGE)