Marlon Vickerman, Features Writer
The following are the nominees for the 2007 Gleaner Honour Award in the category: Youth Education.
Rohan Hall
Rohan Hall is the next bright mind on the Gleaner's honours list and he is really into risky business. Well, he likes assessing them. A past president of UWI Mona's Actuarial Science Society, Hall is currently employed at Coke and Associates Eckler Partners Limited, an actuarial consulting firm. For Hall, the main objective at present, is to complete his exams and be credited as an actuary, then make the world a better place, one risk assessment at a time. "I think it is important that we have experts when it comes to risks. We are well-trained to deal with this and this will complement any business sector," Hall said. " For example, in Jamaica we face hurricanes constantly and it is important to be prepared for them in all sectors. To be able to assess and minimise the risks will ensure that we are not set back too far as a nation and this is what we are trained to do." Hall continued that for him to receive a Gleaner Honour Award is one of the highest orders of recognition for his hard work in the field, and one that will certainly not be forgotten.
NCU Imagine Cup team
Computer software designers at Jamaica's Northern Caribbean University knock heads together on the educational project which qualified them for the World Finals in Microsoft's Imagine Cup Competition for students. From left are Damion Mitchell, Ayson Baxter, Imran Allie and Conroy Smith. - Contributed
It is often said that education is the key to success, and the nominees for the 2007 Gleaner Honour Award in that category, prove just that.
For these nominees, hard work and dedication to the books has paid off. The honourees are the members of the Northern Caribbean University's (NCU) technology team that participated in the 2007 Microsoft Imagine Cup; Rohan Hall, past president of the University of the West Indies' (UWI), Mona Campus, Actuarial Science Society; Regina Bish, 2007 National Spelling Bee Champion; Rachel Chin, 2007 Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) top girl and Romario White, 2007 GSAT top boy.
Earlier this year, four friends, Conroy Smith, Ayson Baxter, Damion Mitchell and Imran Allie, from NCU's Department of Computer and Information Sciences, won Microsoft's Regional Imagine Cup Competition. Their winning entry was a software programme they engineered called 'CADI', an acronym for Computer Aided Distance Instruction. Also noteworthy is that CADI can also be read on another level as an acronym for the names of the team members, Conroy, Ayson, Damion and Imran. Clever thinking.
PURPOSE OF SOFTWARE
The software was designed to facilitate remote interaction of teachers, students and resources. In short, it is a distance education computer programme. However, CADI is exceptional because it offers real-time translations in 12 languages. What does this mean? This means that if a student was using CADI in Jamaica, and wanted to share notes with another student, let us say in Russia, then the programme would automatically translate the English notes to Russian in real-time, no delays.
Anybody who knows even a little about the nature of software programming, knows that this takes some serious work. Niccardo Rhoden, acting coordinator of the Department of Computer and Information Science at NCU said it took the boys eight months to complete the software, which also went on to land them a third place finish in Microsoft's worldwide competition, after they topped the regional event. Currently, the guys are working at adding a voice recognition dimension to the already revolutionary software. Simply put, it means that they are trying to enhance CADI in such a way that it would be able to translate audio/ spoken words to the 12 major languages it operates on in real time. Therefore, a lesson being delivered in French will be converted into the native language of the receiver, be it English, Spanish, etc.
Rhoden continued that since the boys' success, the interest level in the computer science department at the institution has sky-rocketed, resulting in increased enrollment.
" Our Information Technology offering has really been put on the top. This is the second year that we are winning the Imagine Cup; we topped the competition in 2005 and now in 2007. In 2006 we were the runner-up to Guatemala, who won," he said. "As a result of our performance in the Imagine Cup, we have this 'Imagine Cup Culture' in the department where every year we have multiple teams ready to go in the category of software design."
Regina Bish
At thirteen years old, this youngster is spellbinding. A brilliant young mind and a beautiful smile are just some of the phrases that may be used to describe her; she is none other than Regina Bish, the 2007 National Spelling Bee Champion and 16th placed speller in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship held in Washington D.C. earlier this year.
In May, young Regina competed against some 286 top spellers in the Scripps Spelling Bee and as expected, many Jamaicans were glued to the television screens with immeasurable pride and joy.
And the youngster failed to top the competition, being knocked out in the sixth round, she still found a warm place to forever rest in the nation's heart. Now a first form student at Campion College, she hopes to pursue a career in the field of Law.
Rachel Chin and Romario White
Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Nova Scotia, Mr. William 'Bill' Clarke (left), and Dr. Jean Dixon chairperson of the Scotia Jamaica Foundation, stand with the annual scholarship awardee for Excellence Rachel Chin (top girl) from the Queen's Prep. and top boy Romario White from Duhaney Park Primary, at the BNS Scholarship Awards Ceremony 2007 for GSAT scholars at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on Thursday, August 30. -
Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer
The final honourees can also be found at Campion College. They are Rachel Chin and Romario White, 2007 GSAT top girl and boy respectively and certainly a duo to look forward to in the future for great things. Both of them hit the books with tremendous fervor and managed to beat out all others to claim the top spot among the several hundred boys and girls who sat the GSAT exams. At their age, this is perhaps the greatest educational achievement that anyone could hope for and they have made themselves, their parents and their nation proud.
