KINGSTON, Jamaica – Eleven Caribbean students pursuing undergraduate and post graduate studies in areas related to comprehensive disaster risk management (CDRM) have recently received scholarships from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) segregated portfolio company (SPC).
CCRIF 2023 Scholarship recipients and OfficialsThe Ceremony to hand over the Scholarships totaling US$80,000, took place at the Regional headquarters of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica early last week and pushes the value of scholarships issued by the CCRIF SPC to above US$1.8million with 176 recipients.
A statement from CCRIF SPC said the “award ceremony represented a celebration of scholarship and success and was a testament to the role that CCRIF is playing in investing in and nurturing a talent pool of youth in the areas of CDRM.
CCRIF Board Member, Mrs. Saundra Bailey, in her remarks, said, “To our scholars, congratulations. We are proud of the decisions we have made in choosing you as CCRIF scholars.
You are our future and the future we want is based on the decisions we make today. Use this opportunity to define your success and shape your future and that of your country and be an agent of change”.
Six Jamaicans, three Trinidadians, one Barbadian and one Belizean were among this year’s CCRIF SPC scholarship recipients.
Jamaican Patrick Burke, who is pursuing a Master’s of Science in Enterprise Risk Management said obtaining his Bachelors of Science degree was challenging given his past history as a ward of the state for 17 years.
“Being faced with disdain, ridicule, and stigma became a norm for wards, and this affected me throughout high school and university,” Burke said adding that “the reality is that being in a boys’ home was a constant battle, mentally, physically and emotionally – especially because education was never viewed as an important subject.
“However, I did not allow what I went through to affect my futuristic goal,” he added.
The other areas of study being pursued by scholarship recipients this year are environmental management, seismology, natural resource management, built environment, civil engineering, geology and renewable energy management.
