The Community College Development Unit in Anguilla has held its first graduation ceremony following the completion of a series of hospitality training seminars by 58 students.

Students, Lecturers and other Education Officials

Of that number eight students have been awarded two-year scholarships to further their studies in the United States.

The graduation ceremony was held at the Anguilla Great House last weekend. It chaired by Sharon Richardson, Hospitality Coordinator with the Community College Development Unit.

The seminars, from October 16 to November 20, were conducted as follows: Pathways to Legendary Customer Care by Dr. Ben Henry, Founder of the Customer Service Academy of Jamaica, Chief Learning Consultant with Sandals and Beaches Resort and President of the Sandals Corporate University; Events Planning & Management and Food & Beverage Management by Anderson Murray of the Barbados Community College Hospitality Institute; Front Office Procedures by Stephanie Goddard, of the same college; Basic Housekeeping Skills and Basic Food Service Skills by Terry-Ann-Marshall; and Energy Conservation and Plant Maintenance by Adolphus Small, Managing Director of Allied Consultancy Services of St. Lucia and Frances Lum- Young, Principal of Energy Engineering Services of Trinidad.

During the ceremony, Dr. Henry, in congratulating the successful students, announced that eight of them had been awarded two-year scholarships at Hocking College in Ohio, commencing in September 2007.

They are Desserie Brooks, Cleonette Lake, Zwinya Connor, Kishna Thompson, Shannelle Hodge, Gerda Connor, Ashley Richardson and Bernel Richardson. The areas of study are Hotel & Restaurant Management, Culinary Arts, Business Management, Computer Science, Tourism Management, Accounting, Hospitality Sales & Marketing, Spa Management and Hospitality Accounting. Each scholarship is in the sum of US$30,000 and will lead to an Associate of Arts degree.

Earlier in the programme, speakers were Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, his Permanent Secretary responsible for Education, Rodney Rey; Project Officer for the Community College Development Unit, Dawn Reid; and Juiann Young-Lowell of the Barbados Community College Hospitality Institute.

They congratulated all of the students and spoke about the importance of the hospitality training programme to the island’s developing tourism industry.

That training is only one component of the education programme to be offered by the Community College. A full range of courses will be offered later when further work on establishing the tertiary education facility is undertaken.

Mr. Rogers, the Minister of Social Development, says he is anxiously looking forward to that time and that efforts are being made to provide a suitable building for the college which will be a costly undertaking.

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News