On June 8th to June 16th, 2024, a delegation of ten (10) students from the Saint-Lucia Sports Academy (SLSA) went to Guadeloupe as part of an exchange program with Cité Scolaire d’excellence sportive (CSES) comprised in the CREPS Antilles-Guyane facilities (the Center of Resources, Expertise and High Sport Performances in Guadeloupe). 

The delegation was accompanied by the Gros-Islet District 1 Education Officer, Mr Cyrus Cepal; the SLSA principal Mrs Delia Alcindor-Chalres and two teachers, Mrs Kayann Charlery and Mrs Cerally Marius. 

The SLSA students’ trip to Guadeloupe is the second phase of an exchange program with the CSES/CREPS whose group of students previously discovered Saint Lucia from May 12th to May 18th. 

Students from both groups are student-athletes and had the opportunity to immerse in one another’s experiences at their respective schools and to discover another country. Therefore, both groups were following the same classes as their counterparts and partook in sports and cultural activities. The sports, cultural and school exchange allowed students to discover Saint Lucia and Guadeloupe’s landscapes, practice English and French and be exposed to different sports for the cohorts of athletes.

Principals of both schools, the District 1 Deputy Chief Education Officer and the Director of CREPS worked on expanding the partnership between the institutions beyond this exchange program and shared their best practices and experiences to strengthen their administrative procedures in their respective institutions.

Furthermore, all the participants got a chance to be engaged in the passing of the Olympic torch at the CREPS on June 15th celebrations in anticipation of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games starting on July 26th 2024.  

The exchange program was funded by the Regional Council of Guadeloupe under the “I cooperate with the OECS countries” program aimed at pushing civil society and schools to engage in cooperation projects with partners in the rest of the OECS region. 

The OECS supports this experience of cooperation between the CREPS and the SLSA and between two Member States, Guadeloupe and Saint Lucia as a demonstration of sport as a powerful factor of regional integration and youth development. 

At the 1st Council of Ministers: Youth and Sports held from March 13th to March 14th 2024, the OECS engaged in facilitating sports development and cooperation opportunities on these cross-cutting themes. In that context, the OECS signed a cooperation agreement with the CREPS as a centre for sports excellence and high-performance training for the Eastern Caribbean. The agreement included the initiation of “links between specialized schools, such as the CREPS of Pointe-à-Pitre, and schools and institutes of OECS Member States, with a view to exchanging curricula, sporting activities and cross-study visits”.