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Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 26, 2016 (SKNIS):  The Honourable Shawn Richards, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture, discussed matters of interest relevant to the Federation with a contingent of ten students and faculty from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, U.S.A. on Thursday, March 24.

 

The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the team and opened the floor for questions and meaningful discussions.

 

Heather Sullivan, Professor at Hamilton College, noted that the college is interested in attracting international students, as well as learning about Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the Federation, and the possibility of developing connections. She made specific mention of areas such as climate change and said that the college specializes in environmental studies which can be beneficial to the Federation.

 

Minister Richards pointed out that there are a number of areas that St. Kitts and Nevis and the Hamilton College would have mutual interest in.

 

“We are looking at becoming more sustainable in terms of our energy supply here in St. Kitts and Nevis,” said the Deputy Prime Minister. “In Nevis, for example, there is exploration into geothermal energy. There is also some hope that similar exploration would take place here in St. Kitts. We have a wind farm over in Nevis and we had a number of persons who have also approached us about doing waste to energy.”

 

The minister pointed out that there are some projects which the Government is hoping would come on stream while welcoming the assistance from Hamilton College. He also spoke about NGOs in the Federation.

 

“If there is a great interest in coming and assisting with that or even learning from us or we learning from you, we certainly would welcome students to come here and likewise professors,” he said. “In terms of Non-profit Organisations, we have quite a number of Non-profit Organisations. It depends on what your interest is in.”

 

Deputy Prime Minister Richards stated that there is a lot of scope where relationships can be forged going forward and highlighted that the Federation is always looking for opportunities for students and young people to be able to go off to university.

 

Ms. Sullivan described the time with Minister Richards as interactive and said that her team was grateful to be able to meet with him.

The students and faculty members arrived in the Federation on Saturday, March 18, and are expected to depart on Saturday, March 26. The group was stationed mainly in Nevis where they held anti-bullying sessions in all the primary schools on the island.  They visited St. Kitts for a day and engaged in an Island Tour and Steel Pan Session with students at the Cayon High School. Some students spent the day at Her Majesty’s Prison where they conducted music training session with inmates and presented them with recording equipment, software and programmes.