SKNVibes staffer awarded for academic excellence

By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad-CLAUDIA RICHARDS-LIBURD has added to her history of academic excellence by being awarded TT $5000 for her performance in the 2007/2008 examinations at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Trinidad.

Liburd is currently in her second year of studies at UWI and is majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Gender Studies. Apart from her full-time school schedule, Liburd also serves as the Trinidad & Tobago reporter for SKNVibes.

“When I got the phone call that I was getting the award I was excited and at that point for all I cared it could have been a ribbon with the word 'award' written across it. 

When I went in to the Admissions office to get the remaining information, I was made to understand that it was a monetary award. I'm very excited and honored to be recognized in such a way,” she said.

Though she was born and raised in Trinidad, Liburd spent an influential part of her academic career at the Charlestown Secondary School in Nevis where she graduated with nine subjects, three distinctions and the Premier’s Award.

Apart from her distinctions in English, Literature and Social Studies, she was also awarded the City Drug Store Award for best science results and received a Taiwanese scholarship in her first year at the Charlestown Sixth Form College.

While working for SKNVibes, Liburd has often reported on the successes of the Federation’s students attending her campus.
“I'm always profiling students but I rarely get a chance to say that my UWI experience has been a blessing. I've learned so much not only in terms of a curriculum or syllabus but about myself in the process.

“It's challenging balancing my work load at SKNVibes.com with my course work and examinations at UWI, but as my father says, it helps to make me disciplined,” she said. ~~Adz:Right~~

Although UWI has posed its various challenges to Liburd, she said the award bolstered her conviction to her studies and that she wanted to thank all of those who have supported her in achieving her goals.

“I would just like to express my gratitude to my mother and father for blessing me with their good genes and offering their support while I'm at school. Also to my friends who have stood by me during my ups and downs.

“I'd like to thank the staff and management of SKNVibes for their support while I attend school and also for teaching me a myriad of life lessons I could never get sitting in a classroom.

Finally and most importantly I would like to thank God for his direction in my life and ordering my footsteps to allow me to realize my potential,” she said.