The St. Maarten Tourist Bureau (STB) for the annual Junior Minister of Tourism Inter-Scholastic Panel Discussion will kick-off on Friday.
The Milton Peters College (MPC) has four teams. A synopsis of each team can be found below.
“Right before your eyes is a synopsis of a highly-intrigued group of Milton Peters College students. We are all in the TKL 3D with the mentor, Latoya Omzigtig.
“The speaker of this group is Gabriel Serrant (15, Technique) along with team mates; Gabriella Andre (15, Economy), Maricia Roumou (15, Care), Jason Claire (16, Technique) and Raphael Richie (16, Technique).
“It is not a coincidence that everyone in our group has a handful of priceless words that could be the start of a change. This is not just a “Debate” to us but what we would call a “Chance” to voice our opinions.
“All of us might not be the same person nor live in the same house but we are one. We have been discussing about the various topics but there is one that stands out “Sustaining Tourism”.
“This topic is found to be the most important because we can come up with millions of ideas but it still needs to be sustained. On that note we are coming to make sure that whatever we say must be put into action.
“Being nervous or timid is something that holds people back but we will make that be our stepping stone to go higher. We do not have the mind set of only winning, but to bring across a very important message to the representatives and people of Sint Maarten.
“We all went to different Primary schools but what is important, is that we are together now. We were all born in the “Gem of The Caribbean” Sint Maarten. As you can see we said; “Gem of Sint Maarten”, let’s live up to that name. Once again, thank you for such a wonderful opportunity for us to be the change everyone wants to see. Motto: “This isn’t an easy task but, rockiest roads lead to the highest peaks.”
Joanni Henao (VT3A) is a very social and talkative person. “She likes to participate in different challenging activities including the debate team of the Milton Peters College.
“Researchers of the team are: Jose Quintero Cortes is a very intelligent and open person who puts his studies in Economy first. He loves to participate in different speaking engagements where he likes to state his opinion and ideas.
“Ruben Van den Heuvel is a very good team worker who always looks out for others. He likes to follow the instructions given and finish the race with success.
“Isaiah Snijders is a very intelligent young man who is always engaged in different sport activities. He is a very verbal person who likes to speak up on behalf of his teammates.
“Lorena Seraus is a quiet person, but when you get to know her better you see the intelligence underneath the service. She is very cooperative in the teamwork.
“The group has been researching about Sint Maarten and how it is doing in Tourism. To date they are still getting information on the topic. We expect to enlarge our knowledge on this topic.”
The debate team of 3B presents Gwen van der Geer the speaker, and the researchers, Kadijah Gumbes, Artxela Bell and Denasha Charles.
“We have been studying both our culture and history along with tourism. We have also been researching crime rates and problems on St. Maarten that can be easily solved by people making an effort.
“We also went to the Parliament Building, Government Building and other places, asking the opinions of others. We have been practicing on our speech of other topics as well. We expect to do our best to “Woo” the crowd.
“We expect a lot of people to be there hopefully cheering us on. The more the merrier, also we hope that we will be judged fairly. We hope that our fellow opponents do their best and strive for excellence as much as we hope to do.
“Our mentor has played a big part in our preparation as well as our parents, they have helped us to prepare for this exciting event.”
The group of researchers in class 3C are Lorene C. Paulino, Myron Gumbs, Andrew Ford and Georgina Rivera.
“We have been researching about Sint Maarten in general, history and its attractions, the dump and its fumes, tourism, crime etc.
“We honestly expect to do our best but also leave our mark on that day, but we also expect that not too much people will appear on that day and that not so much cameras are pointing on us etc. because we might tend to get nervous and we do not want to mess up on this day of the debate.
“We also expect that this is judged fair and that the questions are as loud and as clear to us. Well our speaker will be Ms. Lorene C. Paulino and she came from the Oranje School and then attended the Sundial School and from there was transferred to the Milton Peters College High School in Tkl form 2, and now she’s in Tkl 3 Sector Economy and striving to go to Tkl 4.
“She was born on the French Side of St. Maarten on July 12th 2001. She’s from the Dominican Republic just as Georgina Rivera, Myron and Andrew are both from here our beautiful island of St Maarten. Well we are hereby trying to say and also make our mark on May 19th and thanks for having us participate in this marvelous event.”
The panel discussion will take place on Friday, May 19 at the Sonesta Great Bay Beach Hotel from 9.00am to 12.00pm.
The winner of the panel discussion will represent Sint Maarten at the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Youth Tourism Congress in Grenada in October.
The participating schools on Friday are: Milton Peters College four sections (MPC), Sundial School, Methodist Agogic Centre, St. Dominic High School, St. Maarten Academy and Charlotte Brookson Academy.