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| The BCM Annual Scholarship Competition has been held for two years now, 2006 and 2007. Our two "Weber Scholarship" students from the 2006 competition, Melanie Trujillo and Jorge Betancourt, successfully completed their first year of high school. Melanie has a GPA of 93% and Jorge: 82%. Thanks to continuing contributions of established, and new donors, we held another competition in 2007, to award three additional four-year scholarships. Twenty-one students appeared to write their essays! My resort business donated a Webster's Dictionary to each competitor as a gift for having the courage to compete. The competition was tough, as most of the students were from the advanced class at their primary school. Their ages ranged from 12-14 years. |
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The judging group, comprised of myself, and several of the Std. 6 teachers, was largely in agreement as to the outstanding essays. Because there were an additional two essays worthy of mention, at the teachers' urging, I agreed to also award a one year scholarship of school fees only (BZ$490 per student) to these two, as "runners-up". The 4 year winners are: Cindy Albeño, Sandy Lee, and Lucky Omoriyu (pictured, l.-r., here w/ Pam). All of them were on the honor roll in their final year of primary school. Should any of the 4-year winners fail to retain their scholarship for any reason, one of the runners-up will take their place. Scholarship recipients are required to maintain a minimum GPA of 80%, and must not exceed 4 days of absence from classes (with the exception of serious illness). Recipients must comply with all rules and regulations of MCHS. The students’ scholarship may be terminated at any time by MCHS administration, or BCM, should the students fail to comply with the school and scholarship requirements. In such instances, the scholarship will be transferred to a runner-up. Belize Christian Ministry wishes to acknowledge Mt. Carmel High School Principal: Mr. David Ruiz for his consent and co-operation in this effort; and to the former guests of Mopan River Resort who have made contributions to my ministry. Particular mention is made of The Fuller Family of Alabama, and Mr. & Mrs. Burns of Colorado, for their recent commitments to sponsor one child through four years of high school, and again to Mr. & Mrs. Weber of Ohio for their continuing support to our scholarship program which began in 2006. |
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We briefly discussed social and moral issues/problems facing the community; then the students selected one or more of these issues as their topic. Their suggestions included: Government, drugs and alcohol, poverty, crime, pregnancy/abortion, disease, violence, and peer pressure.