Councilman Louis "Loulou" Mussington recently met with about 70 St. Martin students in France at the invitation of student leaders.
The councilor of the St. Martin Collectivity (COM) returned here Monday, "thankful to the students for their warmth and questions about how government function and their role in making St. Martin work better for us all," said Mussington.
Mussington visited the cities of Tours, Bordeaux, and Toulouse, where about 100 St. Martin students are studying in universities.
An educator by training, Mussington has long been pro-active with education, especially facilitating university scholarships for the territory’s youths. "As elected officials we need to stay in touch with our students studying abroad," Mussington stated.
"While in France it was natural to meet with our young people who are focusing on their future at various universities. It is also part of my work as an elected official, and my duty as a St. Martiner," said Mussington.
"We are very happy that a government official came to visit us, this is the first time we had the opportunity to talk to one of our leaders in this way," said Jeremiah James, one the coordinators of the tour.
During the exchange with students, Mussington highlighted the importance of education and developing the territory. He pointed-out "You are on a mission to achieve higher education and to return as soon as possible to St. Martin, to become part of the decision-making process in your country."
Mussington laid emphasis on the fact that the COM government is investing plenty money on scholarships but that it does not have a proper follow-through program.
"The follow-through, part of which is generating opportunities for high school, vocational colleges, and university graduates to take advantage of, and keeping track of what our young people are studying for jobs and other opportunities that are opening up, is where I plan to make more concrete contributions in government," said Mussington.
Currently an opposition councilor, Mussington said that he was pleased to discover that the youngsters are busy establishing an information guidance project to assist fellow-students.
"We are putting an organization in place to assist the students when they arrive in France, too many of them get discouraged because of the lack of proper guidance," said Kurt Sprott, one of the project coordinators.
"This kind of self-reliance is also the St. Martin way, from our traditional culture," said Mussington. "If a government is to reflect the culture of its people, it needs to have such programs structured so that there would be the public sector and private or community sector working together for the success of the St. Martin society."
"This is certainly in line with my philosophy of helping to prepare our students for the future," said Mussington, who is also president of the Movement for the Advancement of the People (MAP).