First ten UCCI students to receive new scholarship

By Christopher Tobutt

Ten students at the UCCI were the first recipients of the Peter N. Thompson Family Foundation Scholarships. In 2019 The University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI) received CI$500,000 from the Peter N. Thomson Family Foundation to establish a new scholarship for UCCI students, designed to help recruit and support students who are driven to improve the Cayman Islands in areas including liberal arts, social sciences and the sciences.

UCCI President and CEO, Dr. Stacy McAfee said: “The UCCI strives to combine global achievement and ambition with serving our local community as well. We are honoured to lead and act with a sense of the place in which we are located and combine this with the limitless intellectual ambition which we all hold. Our purpose is to excel in all we do and to exceed the expectations of what our nation wants from us.

“The Peter N. Thompson family foundation recognises the importance of the impact the UCCI has on our nation, and the unique and vital role that the institution plays in creating social and economic progress in a nation that affords opportunities for so many. Today is the first installment of the promise we have to do good, and to do well, and you will realise that, through the amazing students that we will get to know here today.”

Minister for Education, Hon. Juliana O’ Connor Connolly said: “We are well on the way to being the top of education but we have to have legitimate civil legal consummation between tourism, financial Service and education because without that third pillar of the successful education foundation you are going to have crime increasing, and financial services always having to go beyond the Cayman jurisdiction to look for that expertise, and if we are going to nation-build.”

Chairman of UCCI Board of Governors, Mr. Mark Scotland said: Years from now we will be able to look back and say these are the first recipients of the Thompson foundation scholarship when they are CEOs or managers of different industries within this country or elsewhere, this will have played a big role in getting them to that point, so thank you Mr. Ross and please convey our thanks to Mr. Thompson and the rest of the family as well.”

Wayne Ross, Representative of the Peter N. Thompson Family Foundation said: “Halfway through last year we met with Dr. McAffee and we were very impressed with her and with we were very impressed with all the ideas they had and initiatives they had and we said: this is something we want to support. There’s a lot of support out there. This is the first of many classes we are going to keep in touch and we are going to follow your progress and we hope that we can benefit both you and the community with these opportunities.”

Scholarship recipient Melisa McKenzie said: “I’m grateful for the scholarship. I am pursuing a Bachelors of Nursing at the UCCI, and it is really going to help.” Another scholarship recipient, Somali Thompson is pursuing Associates of Science programme, and her dream is to become a doctor. These are just two of the recipients, who will help build a better Cayman Islands when they are fully qualified, thanks to the scholarship.