By Tyrone Reid, Staff ReporterYOUNG CHEVONNE Aschute proved he was a master with both the pen and pencil by delivering an unprecedented sweep of the top honours in category two (12-14 years) of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education's (PATH) inaugural essay and poster competitions for public schools.
After collecting his trophies and cash prizes at the ceremony, which was staged at the Hilton Kingston Hotel in St. Andrew on Friday, a visibly elated Chevonne nonchalantly told The Gleaner that winning the first place prizes in both competitions did not surprise him.
CHEVONNE'S BEST
"I am happy, but I am not surprised because I know I did my best and was hoping to come first in both categories," he said.
The sixth-grader, who attends the Inverness Primary and Infant School in Derry district, St. Ann, pocketed $15,500 for himself and another $10,000 for his school.
The talented and intelligent young man, who is already planning ahead, says the money will go towards financing his education.
"I am going to put it in a bank account so when I am going to high school I can take a little pressure off my mother," he said.
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
His winning essay was entitled 'A Healthy and Educated Population is the Key to National Development' a notion the youngster strongly supports. His poster had a similar title. Other winners in the essay competition were Allistair Mighty of Gregory Park Primary and Michael Anthony Teape of Tivoli Gardens High in categories one and three respectively.
Top honours in categories one and three of the poster competition went to Ricardo Edwards of Independent City Primary and Shelly Ann Henry of Glenmuir High School respectively. Ms Henry also earned her school $10,000 in addition to the $12,000 she pocketed for herself along with a trophy.
The essay and poster competitions were launched by the PATH Programme in November last year and received over a 100 essays and 30 posters. As a result of its success, plans are in the pipeline to make the competition 'grander' next time around by extending it beyond the sphere of public schools. Horace Dalley, Minister of Labour and Social Security and Maxine Henry-Wilson, Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, who were both slated to speak at the ceremony, were absent.
