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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Top left: Jaynelle Rahming of St. John’s College is presented with her prize, a 15.6” Samsung
laptop; top right: Mr. Fitzgerald presents the prize for the primary
school category, an HP All-in-
One PC, which went to Evan Rahming of Maurice E. Moore Primary School in Freeport. Pictured with the Minister are his two aunts, Dandria Miller (centre) and Valencia Rahming,who is holding Evan’s primary school graduation picture; Bottom left: Ulric H. Ferguson Primary School in Cabbage Hill, Crooked Island, won an HP multifunction machine for being the Family Island school with the most entries in the A’s for Excellence campaign. Pictured with the Minister are the school’s principal, Ms. Gretchen
Rolle, and Senior Assistant Mrs. Glendamae Thompson; Bottom right: The winners in the A’s for Excellence campaign are
pictured with their family members at the prize presentations held at the Custom Computers Know-How Store in Harbour Bay last Saturday.
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Nassau, Bahamas - Hundreds of students from educational institutions across The Bahamas took part in the seventh annual A’s for Excellence campaign held by Custom Computers Ltd. this summer. Local primary, high school and college students who received at least one ‘A’ grade in their final report card for the 2013/2014 academic year were invited to enter random drawings for a chance to win a desktop computer, laptop or tablet.
New to the campaign this year: the Family Island School with the most entries received a multifunction machine (printer/fax/scanner/copier).
On hand to present the winners with their prizes at the Custom Computers Know-How Store in Harbour Bay last Saturday was The Hon. Jerome K. Fitzgerald, Minister of Education, Science and Technology, who also participated in last year’s A’s for Excellence drawings.
Mr. Fitzgerald thanked Custom Computers Director Pia Farmer and her team for once again holding the event, and congratulated all of the entrants, their family members, mentors and educators for their hard work and dedication to academic excellence.
“Everything begins and ends with education,” he said. “We understand how important education is and the role it plays in our national development. That’s why it’s so important that we look at education as a national collaborative effort. As the Minister of Education, I welcome every opportunity I get to meet with the private sector to encourage private-public partnership, because we’re all in this together.”
The winner in the college category was Cindy Thompson, a student at The College of The Bahamas, who won a Samsung 3 Galaxy Tab. Cindy is pursuing her second degree at COB, a B. Sc. in Mathematics, having already earned a degree in Accounting. She has been studying while holding down jobs for many years.
The determined young student greatly impressed the gathering with her achievements to date and her plans for the future.
“My goal is to be a lecturer at The College of The Bahamas,” she said. “And I recently got accepted into a school in Belgium, so I will be leaving for Europe in the next three weeks to do my Master’s in Statistics.”
Cindy, who attended the prize presentation with her mother, Iris Bethel, and her two brothers, will be studying at the highly ranked Ghent University, which is known for its wide-ranging scientific research.
Jaynelle Rahming of St. John’s College was the winner in the high school category, and received a 15.6” Samsung laptop. The quiet-spoken eighth grader earned eight ‘A’ grades in her final report card and said her favourite subject is English language.
Her parents, Danielle and Jason Rahming, as well as her twin brother Jason and younger sister Jada, two grandmothers and two aunts accompanied Jaynelle to the presentation.
Jason, who also took part in the 2014 A’s for Excellence, was applauded by those present and encouraged by Mrs. Farmer to continue to do well in school and enter again next year.
The prize in the primary school category went to Evan Rahming of Maurice E. Moore Primary School in Freeport. Evan was traveling and could not attend the presentation. His two aunts, Dandria Miller and Valencia Rahming, accepted the prize on his behalf. Evan, who loves Information Technology and research, won an HP 18.5” All-in-One desktop PC.
In an email sent from Freeport, his parents, Eddie and Deidre Rahming, wrote the following:
“We wish to offer our sincere thanks to Custom Computers for their A’s for Excellence Programme. We’ve entered numerous times and are so happy to have been chosen.
“As the parents of Evan Rahming, we are truly excited and extremely proud of his achievement. Thank you for rewarding him for his hard work.
“One of Evan’s initial comments was, ‘I have to thank my teachers for pushing me so hard.’ We definitely agree and sing the praises of his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Greta Bain, along with the faculty of Maurice Moore Primary School who’ve all been instrumental in his early education.
“As he now enters high school, this achievement will hopefully serve as an impetus for him to continue to excel at his studies. Having a desktop of his own will most definitely be of practical assistance in this regard.”
The Family Island school with the most entries was Ulric H. Ferguson Primary of Crooked Island. Fifteen out of its 24 students were able to take part by earning at least one ‘A’.
Principal Ms. Gretchen Rolle — accompanied by her Senior Assistant, Mrs. Glendamae Thompson — delighted the audience with her story of how this win came about.
Ms. Rolle said that, during the past academic year, she and her staff had been determined to establish a computer lab at the school, and were able to do just that after conducting a fundraising effort that netted them financial assistance and a donation of seven computers. Having achieved that goal, they started writing letters requesting help with the purchase of a copier for the lab, when Ms. Rolle received an email from Custom Computers.
“When we saw that the A’s for Excellence campaign said that a Family Island school that had the most entries could win a multifunction machine, I told my staff about it and I said to Mrs. Thompson, ‘We need to get the kids to enter this competition!’”
Added Ms. Rolle: “We’re happy about this success story, and we’d like to say thank you to Custom Computers for creating a category for us to enter. I’d also like to say thank you to all of the hard working teachers at the school for teaching the children and encouraging them to always do their best, and to the parents, because without the parents’ support, the kids would not be able to make the grade. Let’s continue to work together, parents, teachers, the school and the wider community, to continue to promote excellence in education.”
Every pupil at Ulric H. Primary will also receive a Custom Computers goodie bag containing school supplies by way of congratulations.
A total of 724 students from across the country took part in this year’s A’s for Excellence campaign. Together, they earned 5,712 ‘A’ grades.
“We have more than 700 good news stories we are celebrating today,” said Mrs. Farmer. “We really want to honour all of the students who entered, and also the support system that the children have, because they can only excel when they have people around them to lift them up, to give them ideas, to support their creativity. And the teachers, because every day they go enthusiastically into that classroom to impart knowledge and to create our lifelong learners.”
Mrs. Farmer thanked all who took part and encouraged students to continue to work hard in school and partipate in next year’s A’s for Excellence campaign. Details will be made available shortly after the 2015 Easter break and posted online at www.AForExcellence.com.
If you would like to receive information about this annual event, please send an email to aforexcellence@ccomputers.net to be added to the company’s mailing list.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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