By Jeff Trotman
Orinella Oyana Drakes, the top performer for Region Ten at the 2013 CXC examination, was among twenty seven students, who received bursaries from the Linden Utility Services Cooperative Soc-iety Limited (LUSCSL) on February 21st.
Drakes, who obtained thirteen subjects, including nine grade 1s, two grade 2s, one grade 3 and one withheld, received a bursary award of $15, 000 at the ceremony at the LUSCSL office, Burnham Drive, Wismar.
LUSCSL Chairman, Valerie Patterson, chaired the ceremony. She ex-plained that the society had intended
to give bursaries to 13 students, who successfully passed the 2013 Grade Six exams but sixteen applied and the society decided to acknowledge all of them. She also disclosed that the LUSCSL Management Board had also decided to give bursaries to ten persons, who were successful at the CXC examination but only eight persons applied and they will be honoured. She said it was also decided to award five students, who were successful at CAPE but only three persons submitted results and they will be rewarded.
Each Grade 6 recipient received $10,000 while the CXC and CAPE awardees received $15,000 and $25,000, respectively. To qualify for a bursary one must be the child of a member of the society and be successful at the respective examination. Patterson pointed out that LUSCSL belongs to the people of Linden and more particularly, it is owned and controlled by the people of Wismar.
She said most of the bursary recipients live in Wismar and when their parents pass on, they stand to inherit their parents’ shares in the entity. In commending the recipients, Patterson said they had worked hard. She also said that without a doubt their teachers, parents and guardians would have made a lot of sacrifices in time and finance.
She said that she knows a lot of money had to be spent on lessons, transportation for the successful Grade Six students and, additionally, on SBAs for students, who were preparing for the CXC and CAPE examinations and she knew “some parents had reached the point of giving up but they didn’t because they knew that you would have put in your hard work and you would have made them feel proud in times like now”.
In encouraging the students to continue doing well, Patterson said some bursary recipients, who were rewarded in 2012 for good performances at the CXC, were also being rewarded for good performance at the 2013 CAPE examination and she expressed the hope that those who are receiving Grade Six bursaries will receive subsequent awards for successful performances at CXC and CAPE.
LUSCSL began handing out bursaries in 2010, limiting the award to successful Grade Six students that year and gave bursaries to ten students. The budget was increased the following year to include successful students at CXC and CAPE and this has continued in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
