These were the words of Danika Browne of Jessups Village, one o the 137 sixth form students who received her very own state-of-the-art Hewlett Packard (hp) laptop compliments the Nevis Island Administration.
The students, who were promised their personal computers by the Premier of Nevis and Minister of Education, Joseph Parry, was outfitted with the tools with one week after the promise was made.
Another student, Faith Daniel of Butlers Village added her voice and stated “I am happy for the good work that the NRP is doing right now.”
Dylon Browne of Hardtimes Estate was the first of two boys to express his thoughts for the invaluable gift
“I am very excited by the work done by the NRP Government in producing these laptop computers for us this morning,” he said, while Mr. Robert Morton of Prospect noted that he felt “great” about “receiving my” computer.
Denicia Smithen of the St. Thomas Parish also expressed her sentiments.
“I would like to thank the NRP Government for giving us our laptops and [also] the Fifth Formers. Performance really matters! Thank you,” she said.
In addressing the student population, The Education Minister admonished them to see the personal computers as tools that would propel them forward.
“This morning is not just a symbol but it is a presentation in terms of opening the doors of the future for you and for others who will follow. Each of you will get a computer, remember it is yours to care for, it is yours to help you move forward in this world,” he said.
Mr. Parry also told the students of his hope that they would be the start of a new direction in Nevis and admonished them to not live by the “crab in a barrel” mentality which in his view was a disgraceful thinking of black people but instead he said they should move forward and uplift each other instead of pulling each other down.
“I want you to be proud of yourselves. I want each of you to be proud of what you can do and I want you to say we are 137 persons and all of us will go to college, all of us will go to university and all of us will make a difference in this country…Every one of you I want to pass [overseas examinations] and every one of you I want to make a difference in this country and you know what? In 10 years some of you should either in Parliament or heading there, we need to get rid of the nonsense that goes for leadership in this country. Good morning and I thank you,” he said.
(Major parts of this article were submitted via a NIA press release)