St. Lucia Simply Beautiful

May 10, 2006

Edward Harris at Large!!!

ENTREPRENEURS AND PROFESSIONALS CHALLENGED TO
SHARE EXPERIENCES WITH STUDENTS!!!

Once in a while you are challenged to do the things you ask others to do. Talk is cheap, so is writing. A lot of persons say and write a lot of things but when called upon to take action on the things they speak/write about, even when it is within their sphere of knowledge, they shy away and sing another tune.

I continue to express the need to give back to the community in my articles, especially the sharing of ideas with the young and motivating them to be the best they can, so that they can contribute to the society which nurtured them. This week, I was asked by the Principal of the Vide Boutielle Secondary School, Ms. Ethelene Leonce to make a presentation to final year students who will be writing the CXC examination in a few weeks on the topic – “Choosing Business as a Vocation”.

I was preceded by Dr. Rufina Frederick who shared with the students, techniques that will help them to be successful at the upcoming CXC examinations. She stressed the need for time management and the need to attempt an answer for all questions. I feel that with the recommendations of Dr. Frederick, the success rate of the school would be improved substantially.

Then it was my turn to share the excitement of being an Entrepreneur. I cited the situation where many persons don’t stop to observe that all successful professionals invest in one form of business or another. Their choice investment is usually real estate. In Trinidad medical doctors have been known to put down their stethoscope and pick up their sharpened pencils and execute a pathway to fame and fortune. I drew the students’ attention to a fundamental principle for achieving success, which is to strive to seek out every opportunity to gain knowledge. In the pursuit of knowledge, they were encouraged to become avid readers, as readers are leaders.

I stayed on to listen to Mr. Tony Nicholas, Editor of Yo, a feature section of the weekend Voice Newspaper, who spoke on the topic of “technology in the work place”. He noted that in many offices, the computer is not being used in the way it was intended – to make its users more efficient. Instead too much time is being spent in chatting with friends and playing games on the computer, resulting in serious loss of productive time to employers. He made an interesting point about the use of cell phones and he noted that when some young persons are presenting themselves to potential employers in an interview setting, they want to maintain their normal contact and seek to respond to calls during the interview, not being courteous to the interviewer. He stressed that ideally the cell phone should be turned off so as to prevent the temptation of responding to a call in the midst of a job interview. He noted the limited vocabulary of young persons today and suggested this could be possible as a result of abbreviated words used in their chat room communication. There is a one word description for everything – Great!!!

Generally, I will like to suggest that the Secondary schools expand the interaction between students and professionals/entrepreneurs by inviting professionals and businesspersons to share experiences with the students on a regular basis. Allowing enough time for the presenters to get their messages across and for the students to clarify points made or ask related questions of concern to them.

Congratulations to Ms. Leonce and members of her staff for a well planned programme, and to the disciplined students who participated fully. They are truly a group of winners and although belated, I am pleased to congratulate the members of the debating team who walked away as winners of the Ministry of Youth Inter Secondary School Debate -2006.

The Budget is still very much on the minds of citizens and while concessions were made on Diesel fuel, the price of Gasoline is very likely to be increased in the days ahead. The oil prices are on the rise and continuing problems in Iraq and Iran are not helping. In the Spanish speaking region of the Americas, the current posture of Presidents in the region is not to be ignored and given the existing foreign policy of the USA, a war of words resulting in strained relationships could result that will further aggravate the oil situation. It is heartening to note that in spite our Prime Minister has not signed on to the Venezuelan oil facility, he has not turned it down. However, it is not free oil or oil at concessionary rate, it is a facility which is based on world market prices and will have to be paid for at some point in time. Caution should be taken in relation as to how we manage the agreement whenever we sign on.

I feel the time has come for voluntary car pooling in St. Lucia. It will ease up the traffic and save money on fuel. I rest my case at this point and look to see what innovative ways that could be found to deal with the traffic situation in the months ahead as our road improvement programme gains momentum.

Please go out and enjoy this weekend. The Colombians are closing off their sale with fantastic discounts, those of us who bought in the early stages can catch up and pick up those items which we wanted but didn’t want to stretch the budget. Don’t stop short after catching up on the bargains head straight for Pigeon Island and enjoy St. Lucia Jazz 2006.

Keep the faith, God is in charge!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 15th, 2006 at 11:07 PM and is filed under Articles, Ed Harris. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.