A gala banquet and awards ceremony took place recently to honour a group of over 300 Cayman students who participated in this year’s Junior Achievement Company Programme, a very well attended event held at the Marriott Beach Resort on 18th May. In particular, tribute was paid to the Junior Achievement of the Cayman Islands participants who had succeeded the most in their challenging roles.

Paul Byles, President of Junior Achievement of the Cayman Islands says this past JA year was a huge success due to the large increase in student participation.

“We were able to achieve almost a 50% increase in students’ participation this year over the previous year. This is owing to the hard work and dedication of all our sponsors and volunteers. I also wish to thank all the teachers across the country who encouraged students to participate in the Junior Achievement Programme this year”, said Mr Byles.

Junior Achievers are required to establish and run their own company under the watchful eye of volunteers from the business community, who offer guidance for the young people as they embark and continue on their corporate journey.

At the awards ceremony students enjoyed a key note speech by Cayman Islands Tourism Director Shamori Scott, who was the recipient of the 2013 YCLA award. Individual students and companies were then honoured for their creativity, team work, management skills and enthusiasm, all tremendous achievements in a competitive and demanding environment.

President of the Year went to Leshontae Missick, from Cayman Brac’s Expressive Creations company, while the same company saw honours go to their VP Finance, Jordan Grant. Rashida Smith took the top spot for VP HR from CITCO’s Tile It Up!, while the top VP Production went to Bruce Gordon from the PWC-sponsored Innovations company.

Best VP Marketing went to Tajel Small, again from PWC’s Innovations; best VP PR went to Joanna Tibbetts from Expressive Creations; Female Achiever was awarded to Krishna Arch from UBS-sponsored M.O.C. (making of crafts) and Male Achiever was given to Jonathan Rankine from First Regents Bank’s Somji company.

Sales Person of the Year was awarded to Lashawn Solomon from CITCO’s Tile It Up! and the same company also won Product of the Year. Ultimately, Tile it Up! also was given the award for Company of the Year.

Next Generation Leadership (NGL) Awards were given to Laila Shim, Jamal Hinds, Juliana Wood, Leshontae Missick, Aliana Dodds, Bruce Gordon, John Bodden and Janelle Syms. These students will attend the NGL event, an annual Junior Achievement event, held in Canada later this year.

The Pat Randall Award was given to Raheem Wilson from CNB’s Ambitious Generation.

Mr. Byles says that the Junior Achievement programme could not have achieved its success this year without its generous Corporate Ambassadors.

“Their investment into this programme continues to make a tremendous difference in the lives of Cayman’s youth,” he adds.

For more information on Junior Achievement and to find out how to volunteer, visit www.jacayman.ky or call 949-4306.

Photo Caption: JA 2013 NGL Winners

(l-r: Janelle Syms, John Bodden, Bruce Gordon, Aliana Dodds, Leshontae Missick, Juliana Wood, Jamal Hinds and Laila Shim will be attending Next Generation Leadership event, the annual Junior Achievement conference held in Canada later this year)