The Business Department at the Barbados Seventh-day Adventist Secondary School is very proud of its students, and is constantly seeking for ways to ensure that they are equipped to be their best S.E.L.V.E.S..  This past vacation, July to September, 2021, our school was invited to submit the names of five girls to be participants in a two-week workshop being hosted by the University of Waterloo, Canada.  The invitation came through the Head of the Department of Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics, UWI Cave Hill, which partnered with the University of Waterloo to facilitate the workshop.

The workshop, called Future Leaders Innovating to Go Higher in Technology (FLIGHT), was a pilot initiative of two academic bodies at the University of Waterloo – Women in Computer Science and Young Upcoming Talented and Educated Students of the Caribbean (YUTES).  FLIGHT was designed primarily for minority females ages 14-18, to introduce them to entrepreneurship, in the context of the field of Technology.  The workshop was conducted over a two-week period running from August 9 to August 20, 2021, and was opened to students from Canada, Barbados, and some of our neighbouring Caribbean countries.

Upon our invitation to participate in the programme, we selected five girls from our Business Department – Janae Carter, Janine Cooke, Christina Gittens, Jaida Kellman, and Sariah Mascoll – to represent our school.  Today, with a deep sense of pride and satisfaction, I am elated to report that our girls represented God, themselves and our school excellently.  They attended each training session faithfully.  They worked on their project diligently.  They collaborated with a sense of maturity.  The result?  The Cyber Knights’ (our girls’) presentation of the development of their idea for a prototype of a mobile app, Faveo, that would serve as a platform for youth to access peer and professional support for mental health through focus groups and counselling.

One judge commented, “Great idea. Totally worth pursuing!”  and that “Faveo is a good name. Wonderful thought….  …Great thinking to use mobile apps to solve this issue as well, it's an easy place for people to connect.”  Another judge said, “Very excellent pitch. I liked that everyone spoke during the pitch and the flow was well crafted.”  Such was the quality and impact of their presentation that one official remarked that she thought the Cyber Knights were already attending college.  The Head of the Department of Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics, UWI Cave Hill, equally as impressed, has indicated that she would like to continue working with Cyber Knights in the near future.

Our students have waved our flag high on the international stage.  They “held their own” and have produced work that is noteworthy.  Their achievement at FLIGHT serves as a testimony that we are striving to equip our students to be their best spiritually, enterprisingly, learnedly, verdurously, emotionally, and socially (S.E.L.V.E.S.).  Cyber Knights, we congratulate you on your excellent performance.  Your success is an inspiration and can only serve to intensify the flame of support for the unity of Education and Redemption.


By  
Dr. Eldon Blackman