BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - EDRICE LEWIS, the woman who gave the Federation its beautiful Flag, continues to invest in the country, having given scholarships to four students gearing up for the secondary phase of their school lives.
On Wednesday (Aug. 7), Lewis paid a visit to the Tucker Clarke Primary School where she met and handed over the scholarship donations in the form of school supplies and clothing to the four lucky students.
The students were sixth graders and, according to Lewis, were chosen based on their need and academic achievements.
Lewis said the annual scholarship is in its eighth year and seeks to assist parents with the purchasing of school supplies for their children.
"Thirty years ago, I designed the National Flag and I wanted to give back to my country because I do not live here. So I thought of a way to do it and I thought that one of the better ways to do it would be to invest in the children," she said.
Lewis said the first school to which she gave scholarships was the Irish Town Primary School since it was the first institution she taught at after leaving school. She said she then gave scholarships to students of the Tucker Clarke Primary, being that she had resided in Newtown most of her life.
She also said there are two students in particular that she has promised assistance throughout their primary and high school years; one at Tucker Clarke Primary and the other at Bronte Welsh Primary.
To date, Lewis said she has assisted 59 students, noting that she is hands-on with regards to helping.
Among the items they receive are three uniforms each as well as shoes, socks, all of their books, backpacks, pens, pencils, crayons - everything the students need, she would provide.
Lewis revealed that funds were also donated for the school to host a Science Fair sometime within the first term of the school year.
"There is an organisation in Connecticut where I live called West Indian American Association of Greater Bridgeport (WIAAGB) and we give $1 500 per year to a Caribbean Island, and I asked them for the money this year and they gave it to me,"
She said the organisation's president asked her to use the money to "do what I normally do, so I thought the Science Fair would be a great thing to put it into", adding that the money would usually go towards the Cardin Home of the island that was chosen.
"I just felt like we need more people interested in Science and Maths. Although we have a lot of doctors coming out of St. Kitts, we need more than doctors. We need engineers and there is a whole lot of other aspects of Science that we need people in."
Lewis said she put the idea of the Science Fair to the school's Principal, Sylvester Charles, who agreed that an effort such as that would be beneficial to the students at Tucker Clarke Primary.
When asked what benefits she hopes would be derived from a greater investment in Science, Lewis said if the resources could be found locally, then there would be no need for importation.
"If we have the Scientists we need, we don't have to import them from anywhere because we would have Kittitians who can do the jobs."
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