The St. Vincent Grammar School has done it again! They are the winners of the 2009 RBTT Young Leaders programme, taking the winning trophy for the second consecutive year.

“It’s a very exciting feeling; we worked very hard for this,” President of the SVGS Young Leaders Jesse Morgan related to Searchlight.{{more}} “It’s good to see that once again we came out on top,” he added. Morgan, along with his teammates, beat ten other schools to become this year’s winner. They worked under the sub-theme “Going green; commit to action; join the campaign.”

Their project included programmes such as the writing of a Bill, building compost piles on the school’s compound and public awareness campaigns on the importance of “green” habits such as recycling.

The Young Leaders Awards Ceremony took place on June 2nd at the Peace Memorial Hall and featured speakers including RBTT Bank Country Manager, Isaac Solomon, Young Leader Teacher Randy Boucher and guest speaker Queen’s Counsel Andrew Cummings.

Cummings, addressing the audience of students, emphasized the need to spread the message of going green. Cummings added that many things can be done to stem the pollution of the environment, including less consumption of processed and canned foods, and avoiding the use of plastic bags especially when grocery shopping. Cummings implored the students to be passionate about their efforts and let the task of keeping the country clean be “lodged in (their) minds.”

The Young Leaders of the St. Clair Dacon Secondary seemed quite surprised when they were announced as the second place winners, receiving the Award of Excellence. Vice President of the group Chantell Lewis shared how proud she was of the team. “I’m very proud that we have (won second place)”. Lewis, who thanked the staff and students of the St. Clair Dacon Secondary for their support, added that the school’s project included the planting of vegetables on the school’s compound. The vegetables are also used in the school’s school feeding programme.

The Award of Merit went to the St. Joseph’s Convent Kingstown. The group’s president, Dalcia Coombs, admitted to Searchlight that she thought the only tough competitors they had to face were the St. Vincent Grammar School, and was surprised when St. Clair Dacon was announced as the 2nd place winner. Coombs, however, stated that the SJCK young leaders where not only focused on the competition but were more concerned with protecting their environment.

“We were in this because we cared about our environment,” Coombs stressed. The activities of the SJCK Young Leaders included the planting of trees in the Tobago Cays and at Ottley Hall, visits to primary schools to spread the message of protecting the environment and clean up campaigns such as the memorable clean up of the Kingstown Vegetable Market.

The 2008/2009 RBTT Young Leaders project was launched on December 10th, 2008, under the theme “The Green Revolution: Global Challenge, Regional Responsibility, National Focus.” The theme focuses on the current global environmental disasters and how persons can contribute to keeping the environment clean. Each school will receive gifts and certificates for their participation.

The winning schools will receive $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 for first, second and third place, respectively. (OS)