Adonal Foyle’s Kerosene Lamp Foundation (KLF) announced recently a total of nine winners from their first art/essay competition held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Winners hail from Bequia (Belmont, Hamilton & La Pompe), St. Vincent (Calliaqua, Fairhall, & Ratho Mill) and Union Island (Clifton).{{more}}

The “Express Yourself Art and Essay Competition” was for all school-aged students. Children in Grades 1 to 3 were asked to use art to show them making healthy lifestyle choices, while those in Grades 4 to 6 and Forms 1 to 5 were asked to write about the importance of health, education and how to spread HIV/AIDS awareness on the islands.

Winning entries were selected by Adonal Foyle himself, who personally reviewed the art and essays, along with KLF’s Executive Director. Essays were judged according to relevance of essay to the selected theme, creativity, clarity of thought and grammar/punctuation/spelling. Foyle was heartened to read the essays and said: “I was impressed at some of the independent thought expressed in the competition. The parents of the winning students should feel very proud of their budding artists and writers. Parental involvement in their child’s education is critical in helping our country’s youth develop the confidence and desire to succeed.” An amateur writer himself, the competition highlights an essential skill that is very near and dear to his heart.

Two pairs of siblings won prizes, highlighting the positive impact of parental involvement. First place winner of the art competition Oslya Ollivierre received a Leapfrog Electronic Learning Game, while her brother Osley Ollivierre won a Dell laptop for writing the best entry in the Grades 4 to 6 age group. Both winners attend Bequia Anglican Primary School. Jade Cain, a student at the Thomas Saunders Secondary School, in Kingstown, received first place for his entry in the Forms 1 to 5 age group, and received a Dell laptop for his extraordinary effort.

KLF also named a Second Place winner and Honorable Mention winner for each age group, who, along with the first place winners, received a combination of reading books, electronic dictionaries, and learning flashcards. In the art competition, Tavinor Forde, from Paradise Primary School, in Bequia, placed second, and Areanna G. St. Luce was given an honorable mention. For the Grades 4 to 6 age group essay competition, Jade’s sister, Rhea Cain, of Calliaqua Anglican School, received second place, and Ella Mitchell Sutton, of Paradise Primary School, in Bequia, received an honorable mention. In the Forms 1 to 5 group, Neesha Edwards, of Union Island Secondary School, copped second place, and Angelina Questelles, of GHS, got an honorable mention.

Prizes were awarded this week by KLF Executive Director Shiyana Valentine and KLF Board Member Sabrina Mitchell. Ms. Valentine was in the country to lay the foundation for the next Adonal Foyle Island Summer Camp, for which Adonal Foyle brings some of his NBA teammates and coaches to teach not just basketball skills but also health awareness and HIV/AIDS prevention, and the importance of education. The free camps will be held between July 25th and August 8th, 2009, in St. Vincent, Bequia, Canouan and Union Island.

Valentine also visited Canouan where she presented learning equipment to the Adonal Foyle Reading and Learning Centre at Canouan Government School on behalf of Kerosene Lamp Foundation. Equipment included two computers, one flat screen television, one DVD-player, educational DVDs, learning flashcards, assorted board games and 20 sets of coloring pens.