Youth in Focus: Nevis
Ms. Shavane Joseph
By Claudia Liburd
Trinidad Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Ms. Shavane Joseph
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(Port-of-Spain, Trinidad) --- 25 year old Shavane Joseph of Craddock Road, Nevis is making her mark in Trinidad at the University of the West Indies (UWI) through her pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts in the field of Communication Studies.
During a brief interview with SKNVibes.com Joseph attributed her love of Communication Studies to an interest in conflict resolution.
“The most interesting aspect of Communication Studies is conflict resolution and you find that most conflict is caused because of some sort of misunderstanding. I think that communication is necessary in order to clear up such misunderstanding. This interests me and it is something that I am interested in resolving.
“In terms of St. Kitts, Nevis we have a lot of different people who will come to our Federation as a result of the implementation of the Single Market. As Nevis develops, we will therefore have a wider variety of people of varying cultures so it becomes important to understand communication and how to efficiently decrease conflict”, said Joseph.
Ms. Joseph attended the Charlestown Secondary school from 1994-1999 and then went on to the Charlestown Sixth Form College in 1999-2001 to pursue studies in the field of History, Economics and English Literature. ~~Adz:Right~~
After her tenure at the Charlestown Sixth Form College, Joseph took up teaching in 2001 and was employed at the Charlestown Secondary school as an English/Literature teacher up until 2005.
“It was a mixed blessing in that you learn things that you would not have otherwise learned. Social skills are not a subject that you learn in school so you learn how to deal with people from all sectors and parts of society”, said Joseph in relating her experience of teaching at the Charlestown Secondary School.
In 2005 Joseph made the decision to further her studies and she travelled to Trinidad to pursue studies in the field of Communication Studies with a view to one day returning to the Federation of St. Kitts, Nevis to lecture Communication Studies at Advanced Level in schools.
“Some people are good at Mathematics and others are good at talking and the latter is what I am good at. I like teaching and it grew on me so I am interested in teaching Advanced Level Communication Studies.
“Ultimately I want to be a Communications Consultant and conduct staff development workshops which would aid in improving communication both within the organization as well as customer service relationships”, said Joseph.
While Joseph described her experience at UWI as challenging, she viewed it as an opportunity to grow and learn to cope.
“It has been challenging to say the least, both intellectually and emotionally. However, academics are by nature challenging. It is supposed to challenge you so that you can grow and learn how to cope. It challenges you mentally and emotionally as well because even though you are in Trinidad and still within a Caribbean context you are removed from your own environment.
“It removes you from what you know and what you are accustomed to and you are thrust into an environment where people have other beliefs and other values and sometimes it is just difficult to reconcile the two and to find your base and to negotiate your place in it”, said Joseph.
In ending the interview Joseph urged young people to strive for excellence and noted tertiary education as a goal for young people to reasonably try to attain.
“I think that most importantly tertiary education has to be something that you want for yourself and once you have decided that then you should have a plan. A plan is very important in terms of a timeframe of when you are going to go.
“Know how you will get the money and what you want to do because you find so many people get to college and they realize that they have no idea what they want to do and that is ‘ok’ because you are young and are still searching for yourself but for me it was very important to trust in God and just go for it!”, said Joseph conclusively.
