SUCKER GARDEN--St. Maarten Lions Club gave blank checks Thursday to sixteen of the year's smartest and most community-minded sixth graders for nearly any creative, physical or educational, after-school activity on the island.
The class teacher and principal at each government-subsidised school handpicked the student they thought had done the best academically and socially, Lions told students and their parents at the Lion's Den in Sucker Garden.
Each of these students, who represent a broad spectrum of achievement in and out of school, won a Lions Students' Excellence Award; they also received a US $360 gift voucher to cover classes in dance, horseback riding or sports, among other things. Winners can pick the activity that interests them the most, the Lions said. Last year, most students wanted to learn the computer.
Lion Shantal Schaminee commended the students for their work, saying they were more than just the children who always earned the best grades. She said the Lions rewarded social success by these young residents, calling many awardees "kind, caring, helpful." Some awardees are in church groups and social clubs, while others play sports and music.
"We are always focusing on children who do academically well, which is fine," Schaminee said. "We want them to do well, but besides that we want them to be community-minded, we want them to have St. Maarten at heart."
Schaminee read aloud the praises from each student's teacher and principal to the awardee before handing him or her the voucher. Past District Governor Lion Wally Havertong urged parents to let their children explore their interests in the arts or other non-scholastic subjects with this grant.
Lions Club President-Elect Lisandra Havertong said these students' successes showed the positive impact children could have in their community, in addition to the classroom. "We are happy to say that we have taken a different role in recognising those kids who have done other work," Havertong said. She called it work that "some of us have a tendency of forgetting to reward them for."
The awardees were Jurell Hodge from the Hillside Christian School, Karizza Lammar from Sr. Borgia School, Iris Hakkens from Sister Marie Laurence School, Jessica Barrios from the Sr. Regina School, Vernee Labega from Rev. John A. Gumbs (Methodist Agogic Centre - MAC) and Gabriella Remy from Browlia F. Maillard (MAC), Mariska Carty from St. Dominic Primary School, Ju'won Hans from Seventh-Day Adventist School, Erica Johnson and Johnny Elizee from the Prins Willem Alexander School, Iris Santana Guerrero from M. G. de Weever Primary School, Reno Brooks from Sr. Magda Primary School, Shaquilla Jones from the Oranje School, Kumar Serrant from Martin Luther King School, Renesha Peters from St. Joseph School, and Lawanda Frederick from Leonard Connor School.