St. Martin Secondary wins Sagicor Visionaries Challenge

The winning entry
The winning entry

For the second year in a row the Saint Martin Secondary School (SMSS) has emerged the winner in the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge.

A panel of eight judges declared student of the school, 15-year-old Jeaselle Blaize, winner after she presented a “Techno Gardener”, at an event held at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium on Monday.

The winner and her teacher
The winner and her teacher

Blaize also received a cash prize and a trip to Miami, Florida where she will visit the Kennedy Space Center.

“I am very happy, although I didn’t expect to win because I saw some projects better than my own,” Blaize told the media shortly after her win.

According to her, being a winner is a “good feeling” and all her hard work has paid off.

“We began working on the project in September and completed it two weeks ago,” she said.

She also encouraged young people to participate in the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge rather than being idle.

Meanwhile, Teacher of the SMSS, Vanessa Seraphine, who assisted Blaize, said she was quite shocked after the result.

“I really didn’t see that coming. I am very proud of my school, very proud of the students and I must say that I am quite satisfied,” she stated. “We followed all the guidelines that they send for us and we came out and did a good presentation today.”

The first runner-up spot was secured by the Dominica State College (DSC) with a project called “Asphalt Processing.” The students designed a filter for the Asphalt Plant located in Layou.

“We have conducted surveys among the inhabitants of that area and they have noticed changes in the atmosphere and their health,” one student explained. “We have monitoring systems that would monitor pressure within the filter and particle size leaving the filter which will help us to really keep the diagnostic on what is going on inside the filter. Depending on this we will know if the filter bag needs to be changed or the charge needs to be increased.”

The Isaiah Thomas Secondary School (ITSS) received the second runner-up position with a project known as, “Biogar Generation and Agro-Processing.”

According to one of the project designer, Ras-Iras Charles, the project is meant to take in the waste from the school farm, store it for a period of time, “and through Chemistry and Biology, Methine gas and Carbon Dioxide will be produced…the gas produce can also be sold to the community, and the community can be heavily involved in the process.”

The Sagicor Visionaries Challenge was introduced to promote Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering (STEM) in schools across the Caribbean.

Education Minister, Petter Saint Jean, who was the the featured speaker at the event, said scientific and technological innovation has become increasingly important because of challenges in globalization.

He said also that STEM must be given priority within the school curriculum.

“We agree that STEM education will assist us to create critical thinkers, increase science literacy, and enable and inspire the next generation of innovators,” he stated.“We expect our students to become innovators of tomorrow. We must offer them a solid knowledge base in STEM subjects.”

According to Saint Jean, the Sagicor project is seen as making a significant strive in promoting the importance of STEM.

Assistant Director of the Caribbean Science Foundation, Lois Oliver, said compared to what she has seen in other parts of the Caribbean, “your projects are of very high standards.”

“And what I am pleased to see is the fact that many of these projects are actually implementable projects,” she said. “This in itself is a tremendous accomplishment. When you leave here I want you to go back to your schools and home communities and to see how best you can make these projects a reality.”

Other prizes were awarded to the Dominica Grammar School (DGS) for most creative and innovative Asphalt, the Goodwill Secondary School (GSS) for best innovation of Fruit Fly Repellant, ITSS for best presentation,  Saint Mary’s Academy (SMA) for best use of STEM, with their project, “Making Methane Matter”, the SMSS for most relevant to sustainable community with their project “Raino Draino” and best plan and design with the project, “Techno Gardener.”

Last year’s winner was Kendra Jean Jacques who represented the SMSS.

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3 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    December 17, 2014

    Congratulations and kudos to the St. Martin’s Secondary School and specifically to Ms. Blaize and her teacher! Goes to show that any student at any school can do well once the environment is conducive to learning and achieving! Keep up the good work!

  2. December 16, 2014

    :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: am so proud of this young girl and smss….. keep striving for the best…… Ma School..

  3. La Cour Ma Harman
    December 16, 2014

    Congratulations to the St. Martin Secondary School on winning the Sagicor Visionary Challenge for the second year in a row. Whether it be Primary or Secondary you are the greatest. Guess you are still doing it for Mr. Mendes.

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