Agri­co­la Cred­it Union re­cent­ly placed the spot­light on ed­u­ca­tion, ho­n­our­ing stu­dents who ex­celled in this year’s Sec­ondary En­trance As­sess­ment (SEA) ex­am­i­na­tion through its bur­sary pro­gramme.

Two cer­e­monies were held in both Trinidad and To­ba­go, where a to­tal of 40 stu­dents—23 in Trinidad, 17 in To­ba­go—re­ceived grants and back-to-school sta­tionery in prepa­ra­tion for the new school term.

Speak­ing at the bur­sary award cer­e­mo­ny at Gov­ern­ment Plaza, St Vin­cent Street, Port-of-Spain, on Au­gust 16, Agri­co­la Cred­it Union pres­i­dent Ger­da Eve-Jules said the ini­tia­tive was es­tab­lished as part of the cred­it union’s mis­sion to sup­port the fi­nan­cial well-be­ing, growth and de­vel­op­ment of fam­i­lies.

Eve-Jules pledged to con­tin­ue strength­en­ing the ini­tia­tive. “We pledge to con­tin­ue build­ing the pro­gramme not on­ly through bur­saries, but al­so men­tor­ship, skills train­ing, and op­por­tu­ni­ties that pre­pare our young peo­ple for to­mor­row’s world.

“Just as the co­coa farmer plants for fu­ture gen­er­a­tions, Agri­co­la is plant­i­ng seeds of pros­per­i­ty to­day that will bear fruit in To­ba­go and through­out Trinidad and To­ba­go for years to come,” she said.

Turn­ing di­rect­ly to the grad­u­ates, Eve-Jules en­cour­aged them to em­brace the next stage of their aca­d­e­m­ic jour­ney with pride and re­silience. “To­day, we cel­e­brate you. You have worked with dis­ci­pline and re­silience, and you have shown cu­rios­i­ty that will car­ry you far. Like the bam­boo that bends but nev­er breaks in the strong breeze, you have stood firm and earned your place on this stage.

“As you be­gin your jour­ney in­to sec­ondary school, re­mem­ber: there will be days of sun­shine and days of storm. Both are part of life’s lessons. Hold fast to de­ter­mi­na­tion, re­spect and in­tegri­ty be­cause those val­ues will an­chor you, like the fish­er’s boat rest­ing steady in Store Bay. Con­grat­u­la­tions!”

Eve-Jules al­so re­vealed she wrote a spe­cial let­ter to each of the stu­dents, per­son­al­ly ad­dressed and tucked in­to their back­packs as a keep­sake of the oc­ca­sion.

Pas­tor Uth­maan Thomp­son, who spoke at the cer­e­mo­ny, en­cour­aged stu­dents not to be afraid to dream and use their imag­i­na­tion. “Imag­i­na­tion is not just fan­ta­sy. It is a blue­print for ac­tion. And if imag­i­na­tion is God’s gift, then ig­nit­ing it is our re­spon­si­bil­i­ty,” Thomp­son said.

Thomp­son told the stu­dents SEA is not the end.

“Stu­dents, to­day we cel­e­brate your hard work. SEA is not the end. Your life’s jour­ney con­tin­ues. The world you are en­ter­ing will have many chal­lenges. You will face new ex­ams and new ob­sta­cles, new fail­ures and vic­to­ries. But you will need faith, de­ter­mi­na­tion and the pow­er of imag­i­na­tion to see your­selves be­yond your cir­cum­stances.

“You are dream­ers and you are do­ers. Imag­ine ex­cel­lence, be­cause be­ing av­er­age won’t change the world. Strive to be­come the best ver­sion of your­self. Con­tin­ue to put in the work and be dili­gent and stead­fast,” Thomp­son said.

In a sim­i­lar cer­e­mo­ny at the Nu­tri­tion Cen­tre in Bon Ac­cord, To­ba­go, fea­ture speak­er Jacquize Stew­art spoke on the theme “Ig­nit­ing Imag­i­na­tion”. He re­mind­ed the stu­dents that every in­ven­tion, every busi­ness, every piece of mu­sic, movie, app or build­ing start­ed with one per­son ask­ing “what if ...”? And he re­mind­ed the stu­dents imag­i­na­tion cre­ates lead­ers, not fol­low­ers.

“Imag­i­na­tion isn’t just for fun, it’s for vi­sion. If you can imag­ine some­thing, you can start work­ing to­ward it. Put the phone down. Let your brain wan­der,” Stew­art con­tin­ued.
“Think of Shuri from Black Pan­ther, who imag­ined har­ness­ing vi­bra­ni­um for med­i­cine, build­ings, or de­fence. She tru­ly proves what can hap­pen when imag­i­na­tion meets sci­ence. So, what about you? You don’t need a cape or a mil­lion fol­low­ers. All you need is an idea and the guts to be­lieve it’s pos­si­ble,” Stew­art said.