EDITOR’S NOTE: Mid April, #eduCaribbean featured Caribbean students in our edition 2021-04-26. This newsletter does the same. Three Caribbean countries are covered, namely: Jamaica, Barbados, and Guyana. Four of the five articles refer to Jamaican students. One is shared with a Barbadian, and the remaining refers to Guyanese students.
The headline, taken from the Jamaica Gleaner, reads: “Jamaican Makes History At Virginia University”. This month, a Jamaica-born 21-year-old — Jay-Anne Johnson — will become the first black female student to graduate with a bachelor’s in biophysical chemistry from James Madison University, in the U.S. state of Virginia.
Two animation majors from the Caribbean School of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus — Chevon Irving and Tajha Winkle — will work along with their their project adviser and mentor — George Hay — to animate a short film for the 52nd season of the children’s series, Sesame Street.
Guyana students — Bhedesh Persaud and Zane Ramotar — received the highest scores in the Caribbean at the May/June 2020 sitting of the CSEC and CAPE exams respectively. Nevertheless, a recent study by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute has found remote learning was difficult for the majority of Caribbean students, especially in focusing on their schoolwork.
Finally, two doctoral candidates — Ms. Tracy-Ann Hyman (UWI, Mona) and Ms. Marium Alleyne (UWI, Cave Hill) — have been named among the Commonwealth Futures Climate 26 Global Rising-star Researchers for 2021. The ACU and British Council had partnered to establish the Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort to support such academic researchers.