In the spotlight

The Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) is currently celebrating 50 years of existence, and today students from the different divisions got the opportunity to exhibit some of the work they have been doing.

Guidance Counsellor, Shauna Carter, stated that “Today’s Skills Fair brings together not only our current student body but also former students and our industry partners, who will be showcasing their services and businesses and helping students secure work opportunities.”

Some of the students who have set up businesses of their own also got to promote their ventures. One was T’Shauna Scantlebury, a Business Studies major who has a two-month-old cosmetology business called Chelayne’s Beauty Box.

She said, “I started this business as a ‘sideline’, and it got off to a slow start but it is growing now. And naturally, my major will help me acquire the skills I need to successfully run a company.”

The Agriculture Department showcased livestock, including rabbits and sheep, and crops which were grown utilising hydroponics and other techniques well suited to people short on land space. There was a “car show” at the Automotive Department, which featured some of the industry partners and instructors who brought high performance cars to the institution to show students how they could get more power out of the vehicles on which they worked. One was Kevin Griffith, himself a former student who showed off a highly modified 1984 Toyota Corolla which he campaigns as a racing car.

The General Studies Division was also open and students demonstrated how evaporation works using food dye and water. Mathematics and Science instructor, Tristan Heallis, said, “All students enrolled here, except those in the Business Studies division, must do General Studies courses including Mathematics, Communications Skills, Health and Safety and Basic Science, as it helps them to get a better understanding of the basic elements of their speciality areas. For example, these students are majoring in Marine Technology, and this exercise is showing the process by which crude oil is refined into byproducts like diesel, gasoline, kerosene, ethanol and methanol. (DH)