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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
At a meeting held Mexico’s Embassy on Tuesday, October 7, from left to right, are His Excellency Dr. Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States; the Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Education, Science and Technology; His Excellency Emilio Rebasa Gamboa, Mexico’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS); and Ms. Monique A. Hinsey, a Consultant with the Ministry of Education’s Scholarship Resource Services.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Education, Science and Technology, last week participated in a series of meetings aimed at identifying partners to leverage and maximize the existing $16 million that his Ministry annually dedicates to tertiary education scholarships, generating new scholarship opportunities for Bahamians, particularly public school students, enhancing exchange programs between The Bahamas (COB, BTVI and High Schools) and other Countries and institutions and other matters related to education during a five-day visit to Washington, D.C.
Mr. Fitzgerald and Ms. Monique A. Hinsey, a Consultant with the Bahamas Ministry of Education’s Scholarship Resource Services, arrived in Washington Tuesday, October 7, and later that day met with His Excellency Emilio Rebasa Gamboa, Mexico’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), at Mexico’s Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
They were accompanied by His Excellency Dr. Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States; Mr. Chet Neymour, Deputy Chief of Mission, Bahamas Embassy; Miss Krissy Hanna, Second Secretary, Bahamas Embassy; and Mr. Mikhail Bullard, Third Secretary, Bahamas Embassy.
The Bahamian delegation received a detailed briefing on a scholarship program offered by the Mexican government to OAS Member States through the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) and the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation AMEXCID).
The CONACYT-OAS-AMEXCID Scholarship Program offers students the opportunity to study Specializations, Masters and PhD programs in Mexico while receiving a monthly stipend for subsistence, health insurance, a one-time grant for installation expenses and the possibility to obtain tuition waivers.
Mr. Fitzgerald noted that while The Bahamas would most certainly be interested in such a scholarship program, given the language barrier which limits accessibility for Bahamians and CARICOM nationals generally, he suggested that the program should also include a language immersion component to allow Bahamian students to become sufficiently competent in Spanish prior to commencing studies. He also suggested that an area of partnership of great interest to his Ministry would be short study immersion courses for junior high school students.
On Thursday, October 9, Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald also visited North Chevy Chase Elementary School, a magnet elementary school for grades 3-to-6 in the areas of Computer, Science, Math and Gifted/Talented Education. Pictured from left to right are Ms. Monique A. Hinsey, a Consultant with the Bahamas Ministry of Education’s Scholarship Resource Services; Ms. Melanie Carr, Staff Development Teacher, North Chevy Chase Elementary; Ms. Renee D. Stevens, Principal; Minister Fitzgerald; Mrs. Victoria Leahy-Jones, Counsellor, and Mrs. Claire Thompson Neymour, Special Education Teacher, a Bahamian National.
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Ambassador Gamboa agreed to forward this and other recommendations made by Minister Fitzgerald to his government.
Mr. Fitzgerald continued his busy schedule on Wednesday at the State Department Bureau of Educational Affairs, where he met with Deputy Assistant Secretary Meghann Curtis and Managing Director AS Marianne Craven. Discussions included commitments to expand the slate of Fulbright opportunities available to The Bahamas, namely the Fulbright Visiting Student and Specialist programs, to work towards including The Bahamas as a target Country under the Obama Administration’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas Exchange program and advisement on other non-government scholarship opportunities and student placement services that might be beneficial to meeting the Ministry’s goals.
On Thursday morning, Minister Fitzgerald held discussions at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) focusing on access to technical cooperation on grant writing and other educational matters. Among those participating in that meeting were Mr. Michael R. Nelson, IDB’s Country Coordinator, Caribbean Country Department; Mr. Carlos Herran, IDB’s Lead Education Specialist, Education Division; Mr. Jerry C. Butler, Alternate Executive Director for The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago; and Ms. Astrid Wynter, IDB Representative in The Bahamas, via a televised conference call from IDB’s office in Nassau.
Thursday afternoon, Minister Fitzgerald visited the campus of Howard University on Georgia Avenue, where met with Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederkick, President of that historic predominantly black university; Ms. Gracia Hillman, Howard’s Vice President for External Affairs; Mr. Derek R. Kindle, Director of the Office of Financial Aid; and Mr. William Carpenter, Executive Protection Unit, Howard’s Department of Public Safety. The Meeting centered on discussion of avenues for enhanced access for Bahamians to the University and potential mechanisms to foster a deeper a structured relationship between the University and The Bahamas were offered.
On Friday, October 10, Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald met with Ms. Marie Levens, Director of the OAS Department of Human Development, Education and Culture, and several of her associates. Pictured from left to right following the meeting are Ms. Dulce Govea, Executive Secretariat for Integral Development; Ms. Andrea Leonelli, Education Specialist; Ms. Monique A. Hinsey, a Consultant with the Bahamas Ministry of Education’s Scholarship Resource Services; Ms. Levens; Minister Fitzgerald; Ms. Juliet Mallet Phillip, Coordinator, OAS Scholarship Training Programs; Dr. Juana Roman, Coordinator, Educational Portal of the Americas, OAS Department of Human Development; Ms. Lina M. Sevillano, Chief of Unit, Technical Secretary to the Leo Rowe Pan American Fund Committee; and Ms. Nichole D. Duncan, Scholarship Consultant, Department of Human Development, Education and Employment.
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Later on Thursday, Minister Fitzgerald visited North Chevy Chase Elementary School, a magnet elementary school for grades 3-to-6 in the areas of Computer, Science, Math and Gifted/Talented Education, where he met with Principal Renee Stevens and several members of her staff, including Ms. Melanie Carr, Staff Development Teacher; Mrs. Claire Thompson Neymour, Special Education Teacher, a Bahamian national; and Ms. Victoria Leahy-Jones to engage on the school’s unique curriculum, legal framework and technological apparatus used to foster an early focus on STEM subjects and provide quality special/gifted education.
Then on Friday morning, Minister Fitzgerald met with Ms. Marie Levens, Director of the OAS Department of Human Development, Education and Culture; Dr. Juana Roman, Coordinator, Educational Portal of the Americas, OAS Department of Human Development; Ms. Juliet Mallet Phillip, Coordinator, OAS Scholarship and Training Programs; Ms. Andrea Leonelli, Education Specialist, Human Development and Education Section; Ms. Nichole D. Duncan, Scholarship Consultant, Department of Human Development, Education and Employment; Ms. Dulce Govea, Executive Secretariat for Integral Development; and Ms. Lina M. Sevillano, Chief of Unit, Technical Secretary to the Leo Rowe Pan American Fund Committee. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss enhanced utilization of the various scholarships and funding avenues facilitated by the OAS by Bahamians, the alignment of OAS scholarships with Bahamas national development priorities and potential areas of technical cooperation between the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the OAS. The Minister was also requested to present on the ongoing education reforms being enacted in The Bahamas at an upcoming inter-American Education Ministers Meeting in 2015.
Minister Fitzgerald wrapped up his series of meetings Friday afternoon at the Institute of International Education, where he met with Dr. Allan Goodman, President and CEO, and at NAFSA: Association of International Educators, where he met with Senior Directors Sheila Schulte and Gail Hochhauser and Associate Director Mark Farmer. At both Meetings the Minister discussed the projects that other Countries were implementing to maximize scholarship and placement opportunities for citizens in the United States, which were being facilitated by both NGO’s, and what areas of technical cooperation or service both entities could provide to his Ministry to assist with attaining his key policy goals going forward.
Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald is pictured second from right during discussions held at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Thursday, October 9. Third from right is Deputy Chief of Mission Chet Neymour, fourth from right is Third Secretary Mikhail Bullard, and in the background is Mr. Jerry Butler, Alternate Executive Director of the IDB, Mr. John Rolle, Financial Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who participated via a televised conference call from IDB’s office in Nassau.
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Pictured from left to right at the meeting held on Wednesday, October 8, at the State Department Bureau of Educational Affairs are Ms. Monique A. Hinsey, a Consultant with the Bahamas Ministry of Education’s Scholarship Resource Services; His Excellency Dr. Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States; the Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Education, Science and Technology; Ms. Meghann Curtis, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs; and Ms. Neda Brown, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Nassau.
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Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald also met with Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederkick, President of Howard University, on Thursday, October 9. Pictured from left are Mr. Derek R. Kindle, Director of Howard’s Office of Financial Aid; Ms. Monique A. Hinsey, a Consultant with the Bahamas Ministry of Education’s Scholarship Resource Services; Minister Fitzgerald; Mr. Frederick; Ms. Gracia Hillman, Howard’s Vice President for External Affairs; and Mr. William Carpenter, Executive Protection Unit, Howard’s Department of Public Safety.
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