Greyshell Bent – Community Service

Eighteen-year-old Greyshell Bent’s life is one characterised by community service.  As a member and leader of the John Gray High School Key Club for five years, she performed more than 110 hours of community service annually while balancing her school work (including extra subjects), carrying out her duties as a prefect and maintaining a positive, enthusiastic attitude.

Greyshell joined the Key Club in Year 8 where her servant leadership skills were quickly identified.  She was appointed Membership Chairperson, a job she did with distinction.  With 75 hours of community service under her belt, she gained the Distinguished Member Award at District Convention.

That same year Greyshell was elected Secretary and her time management, organisational and communication skills were put to the test as she undertook the mammoth task of keeping accurate records of minutes, attendance and correspondence and ensuring the Key Club Pride Report was completed in a timely manner and submitted to the Florida District.  For her efforts, the Club won six awards at Convention 2016 and Greyshell won the Secretary Award and earned a banner patch for her report submission.

Greyshell was elected President of the Key Club in the same year she began her CXC exam courses.  Even though she had a challenging workload with her studies she still found time to organise various Key Club school and community projects that highlighted the Club’s theme “Caring: Our Way of Life”.  Notable initiatives included Key Meets Culture, which helped children learn about their Caymanian heritage; a lunch at school for 20 senior citizens where they shared their talents and life experiences; an Earth Day Fair; a school beautification project; and lunch for residents at a care facility in West Bay.

Under Greyshell’s stellar leadership the John Gray High School Key Club undertook 40-plus school and community projects and won eight awards including one for Single Service Project.  As the Lieutenant Governor for all five Cayman Key Clubs, she took the organisations to new levels of excellence, resulting in the Cayman Clubs winning five trophies at the 2018 International Convention for the first time.  Greyshell herself has previously earned the accolade of Distinguished President at the 2017 Convention.

Her high school career culminated with a high honours diploma complemented by the Kiwanis Service Award and School Leadership Award.  Now studying business at UCCI, this civic minded young lady from Bodden Town plans to study Fashion Marketing at London College of Fashion or University of Hertfordshire in the UK.

Shannon Williams – Academics

Shannon Williams’ love for all things STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) not only compelled him to pursue studies in a related field but also motivates him to help other students discover the excitement and the possibilities that exist in this area of education.

21-year old Shannon pursued an Associate of Science degree in Computer Science at UCCI and is currently doing a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology degree with an emphasis on Software Engineering at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania.  One professor at UCCI describes him as hardworking, respectful, self-motivated and dedicated, possessing a flair for innovation and excellent leadership skills. During his tenure at the University College, he was an impressive ambassador for the institution and the Cayman Islands in the area of STEM, both locally and in the United States.

Shannon was a very active member of, and contributor to the UCCI STEM Club, an organisation which encourages students to get involved with various STEM projects such as Robotics, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAV).  A role model to his peers, he brought applied technology to life, enabling them to think outside the box and take risks with their minds in automation, programming and control.  He was instrumental in seeing several major robotics assignments through to completion, including designing and building a remote-control system for a robotic arm using an Arduino microcomputer and building a stepper motor controller for a newly designed Solar Newtonian Telescope at the Dr. William Hrudey Observatory on the UCCI campus. In addition, he was a facilitator for the Drone and Robotics Club – which still meets regularly – where he freely shared his time and expertise as a mentor.

Shannon has been very active at university also.  He founded The 001 Group, a student software development association whose purpose is to better prepare primarily computer science students for careers during and post-completion of studies. The idea came to him after he noticed the gap between the skillsets and exposure of IT professionals and students while interning at Walkers during a summer break. Most recently, he wrote a proposal which won The 001 Group a university presidential research grant of US$20,000 to be used to increase the quality of student life via a mobile application.

STEM enthusiasts here in Cayman are excited for this Bodden Town resident to finish his studies and return home to make his invaluable contribution to the development of new technology applications in the Cayman Islands.