PSS to compete for Int. Junior Achievers Award in Mexico

The Portsmouth Secondary School (PSS), is once again making school and country proud in the area of entrepreneurship as they have been selected from among five local schools, to compete in Mexico for the International Junior Achievers Business of the Year award.

Dominica Grammar School, St. Martin Secondary, Wesley High and Community high were the other schools which submitted proposals for the competition.

Thirty-two countries will this year vie for the company of the year award which is given annually. The top three participants are selected from among the Junior Achievement organizations and clubs who take part in the curriculum to highlight their products and compete among themselves.

Dominica is part of that 21 countries that were selected from the original 21.

Business teacher at the Portsmouth Secondary School, Roselyn Matthew told Dominica News Online (DNO), that being selected means a great deal.

“To me it means a lot, because we have been working extremely hard and it wasn’t easy. And just knowing that the hard work paid off, that makes me feel really, really good.”

She said that winning would be a ‘greater joy and it would mean that Dominica really has potential. Our young people, there is so much positivity in them and this would just show the world our young people, they are able to reach for the stars. It would make me feel so happy it would make my principal feel so proud, it would make our school proud it would make Dominica proud”.

She mentioned that the participants have about three weeks to produce and ‘tie all loose ends’ and they are encouraging the public to support them and rally behind them.

They are expected to leave on December 7th or 8th for Mexico there they will be participating in different seminars and activities.

“It will be four days of hard work, the students have to be placed before a firing squad, they have to present and there will be a trade show So, they have to answer questions. They have to present their product to show quality; they have to sell their products, show the benefits of their products and so on,” Matthew emphasized.

She said the group is ready mentally but they are “…still waiting on some funds from government and other from persons to source our packaging.

“We are going to be coming up against Canada, some Latin American countries, and countries of the Caribbean. So it is not easy, it is a tough competition but I believe we can make it, we can come out with something good. I really want to big up God …because he has helped us through. He has given the wisdom, the knowledge, the direction. I owe it to him,” she declared.

Meantime President of the Junior Achiever’s Dominica team at the Portsmouth Secondary School, Jeanil Pierre, said the school is going to showcase four products from ‘Nature’s Essentials’ namely: balms, body splash, body moisturizer, and a warm body cloth (massage cloth)
“…and we came upon these products because we wanted to focus on skin care so we decided to promote natural skin care products,” she said.

Pierre also stated that they expect to take their product further and sees this opportunity as a ‘stepping stone for whatever it is that we want to accomplish as entrepreneurs so I expect that this would be a great experience for us’.

Executive Director of Junior Achievers Dominica, Natasha Yeeloy, believes that with the quality of the school’s products compared to other countries ‘they have a very, very strong chance coming out with one of the three possible awards’.