ST. THOMAS – The results of the Student Government Association elections have been announced.
A week after the student body on the St. Thomas campus went to the polls to vote for the candidates of their choice, the SGA Elections Committee published the results in a general campus email on Wednesday morning.
According to the correspondence, the following students have been elected to serve as SGA officers for the upcoming academic school year 2015-2016:
President-elect: Yohance Henley
Vice President-elect: Cashkim Bussue
Treasurer-elect: Tonya Greene Senior Senator-elects: Tonecia Rogers and Michelle Malone Junior Senator-elects: Lisa-Marie Hodge and DeWein Pelle Sophmore Senator-elects: Denine Hurtault and Kaunda Williams
(not pictured below: Michelle Malone and Kaunda Williams)
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In an interview with the UVI Voice, Rogers thanked those who supported her and said she is honored to serve in her new capacity for the seniors’ benefit.
“It’s an opportunity that I won’t take lightly,” Rogers said.
For his part, Pelle thanked his constituents, support group, and the UVI community. He promised to “wholeheartedly dedicate my time and productivity in attempting to eradicate the grievances of the student body. We are all scintilla of the adept Virgin Islands environment. I intend to catapult our academic atmosphere by reintroducing and rebranding of academic programs such as assistance learning and expanding UVI outreach programs at the university to craft a congenial and altruistic relationship with the VI community.”
Greene said it is a wonderful feeling that the students entrusted their confidence in her to have her work on their behalves.
“I want to thank the students for giving me an opportunity to serve on the SGA,” she said.
The other elected members could not be reached for comment.
Students also voted on the referendum question: Do you think the Student Government Association members should receive adequate compensation each semester? A total of 248 students voted “yes,” while 78 indicated that they were not in favor of SGA members getting paid, according to the Elections Committee.
The day following the elections, Director of Student Activities Leon Lafond notified the student body via email that the results “have been postponed to accommodate some write-in candidates who have to be certified by the Access and Enrollment Services in order to declare their candidacy.”
Then, four days later, Lafond issued another e-mail to inform students of a further delay in announcing the outcome. “On behalf of the SGA Elections & Grievance Committees, there have been some inquiries about the official results for the 2015 Student Governance and Leadership elections,” the email read. I regret to inform you that the announcement has to be postponed due to unfortunate circumstances. At this present time, there are some grievances filed that need to be addressed accordingly.”
Meanwhile, the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees has not yet been named as the elections committee is awaiting the results from the Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix.
The swearing-in ceremony for the SGA is scheduled for the fall semester. No date has yet to be set.
ST. THOMAS – Yentyl and Khalarni wake up each day enthused about their new business. Their hectic 18-hour days begins at 6 a.m. Throughout the day, they bounce between jobs, assignments, classes, school organizations, and their new business, leaving little time for a social life. or sleep.
Left: Khalarni Rivers, Right: Yentyl Levet at The Mix on the waterfront infront of BurgerMaxx, downtown Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas USVI. Photo Credit: Yentyl Levet
At this time of the semester, many students at the University of the Virgin Islands are worrying about final projects, research papers, carnival celebrations and senior year.
The same cannot be said of 21-year-old Yentyl Levet and 22-year-old Kharlani Rivers. These two students are not ordinary UVI juniors. Yentyl and Khalarni are busy running their own business – The Mix.
The Mix is a recently opened coffee stand located in front of Burger Maxx on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront. The Mix offers frozen and hot organic coffee.
Ultimately, Levet and Rivers wish to turn the coffee stand into a full-blown business by 2016.
Kharlani decided to open The Mix to inspire more Virgin Islanders to become entrepreneurs.
Khalarni said, “As a young Virgin Island male, I realized there weren’t many black locally owned businesses and I wanted to change that.”
The idea to open The Mix began about six months prior to the launch of the business and came as a result for the need to do something greater for themselves and their community.
Establishing this business was also a means to provide funding for their youth initiative- TEHO, To Each His Own- a community project designed to help young adults reach their full potential. Opening The Mix meant more than giving up their social lives; Rivers is now taking fewer credits in order to run the business daily.
DJ Temp playing at SGA’s Back to school party at UVI Sports at Fitness Center, January 2015. Photo Credit: Michael McFarlane
Desperate for opportunities and exposure, some students such as Michael McFarlane and Branford Parker did not have to reduce their course load, but gave up video games in their pursuit of becoming business practitioners.
Parker, a freelance photographer and videographer, and McFarlane, a radio personality and disc jockey, are rising Communication majors at UVI.
Both students said that at first they had to provide their services for free to make a name at the university.
While most of their work is freelance, it is their dream one day to open their own companies, but for now, they use the money made from small gigs to fund their schooling.
McFarlane, DJ Temp, plays regularly at nightclubs around St. Thomas and hopes one day to be on the poster for every party. McFarlane believes that he is getting closer to his goal as his weekends are becoming a lot busier.
Malisa Ragnauth. Owner of Caribbean Imports, Tortola, British Virgin Islands Photo Credit: Malisa Ragnauth
For many British Virgin Islands students at UVI, like Malisa Ragnauth, their weekends usually include a commute home via the ferry every Friday.
However, Ragnauth is not journeying home just to meet with friends and family. The graduating accounting senior is the owner of her own business, Caribbean Imports, based in Tortola.
Ragnauth said it is not easy commuting every weekend to Tortola but her business depends on her physical presence. For Malisa, one of her greatest regrets is not being physically present to receive customer feedback.
Ragnauth’s business has been in existence for the past two years and was created at first when her parents, originally from Guyana, were not able to find Guyanese products in Tortola.
Malisa’s company imports fresh seafood, spices, seasoning, groceries and clothing from Trinidad and Guyana.
Malisa said she wanted to fill the void left by supermarkets offering American products only.
Kharlani, Yentyl, Branford, Michael and Malisa are not the only students at UVI working to achieve their goals of becoming business entrepreneurs.
The culture of entrepreneurship is being cultivated by the school’s annual 13-D competition. Participants in the program stand to win as much as $30,000 in prizes for their business ideas.
UVI 13D Coordinator, Glen Metts said “This year the competition started out with approximately 20 teams in the fall. The first competitive round was held on March 20th, which declares 6 finalist teams to compete on April 24th,” Metts said. “The competition is very exciting and the remaining participants will present their business ideas to a panel of judges.”
ST.THOMAS – On Wednesday April 15, 2015 UVI students, under the supervision of Dahlia Stridiron, created a table to promote sexual awareness for the month of April. This activity was sponsored by the Counseling, Career, and Health Service Departments of UVI.
The St. Thomas Campus Cafeteria, decorated with t-shirts about sexual assault. (photo credit: Kiana John-Baptiste)
The students were able to create a “t-shirt” with their own sayings and quotes. These “t-shirts” were then posted in the cafeteria on a clothes line, displaying what the students wrote. Upon completing the t-shirt, each student was given a dark green ribbon for participation. There were also pamphlets and booklets about sexual assault awareness.
Shanaliz Natta, a sophomore stated, “In my point of view, the table had an array of information pertaining to sexual assault. I liked it because it was well decorated with the colors representing sexual assault, depicting that the volunteers were passionate about getting the message out there to men and women.”
Some shirts had simple quotes like “Do Not Touch” or “Leave me alone.” Others had quotations like “You have a hand. You don’t need me.” Some decided to write inspirational messages such as, “You are not alone” or “Get help, and we will believe you.”
This activity is one of many across the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 5 women are sexually abused. The research also stated that 1 in 59 men are raped in their lifetime.
Although many may not come forward, this horrendous act still occurs. It’s up to the people of the community to prevent this from happening and also console the victims if and when it does.
The students of UVI demonstrated sympathy and awareness about this subject.
ST. CROIX — It’s 4 o’clock on a Monday afternoon as Sarah Jagrup heads to her first class of the new semester. A brief glance at her schedule indicates she has Caribbean Literature in room 401 from 4-5:15 p.m. She is unaware that the class is a video conference course or that the professor is on St. Thomas as she enters the theater in the Evans Center Building.
She walks in to find the room in complete darkness and completely empty. Sarah double-checks the room and time on her schedule. Reassured, she turns on the lights and makes her way to the center of the room as she waits for her classmates and her professor to arrive.
Ten minutes pass and nothing happens. She is still alone in the largest classroom on campus. Sarah decides to investigate why no one is there and finds out that the class is video conference, so she heads to the library to get help from the IT department.
After a thorough investigation to determine which classroom the class is being held on in St. Thomas, the helpful IT technician connects Sarah with her class on St. Thomas.
When the connection goes through, she finds they have been conducting class without her for the last 30 minutes. She is the only student registered for the course on St. Croix while there are about 17 or 18 students on St. Thomas. A single person missing is easily overlooked.
Touchscreen display which controls video conference equipment.
Sarah goes through this tedious process of trying to connect with her professor and classmates on St. Thomas every Monday and Wednesday afternoon. She makes it a habit to contact IT before making her way to her class since she anticipates an endless list of issues with the equipment. She is at a total loss on how to operate the video conference equipment herself until six weeks into the semester, when an IT technician decides to show her how to operate the technology.
As an education major, Sarah has to have a certain amount of patience, but she confesses that after several days of dealing with lags, glitches, missing out on class time, and being overlooked, her patience was at an all-time low.
“It was horrible and disappointing to me. I was lost and really fed up with the course,” Sarah said. “I could not wait for it to be over.”
“I felt like the ugly duckling, and I was at a total disadvantage,” Sarah said. “It should not be that bad, but it is. The people on the other side just don’t understand our frustration.”
After such a horrible experience, Sarah developed an aversion to video conference classes, but she would soon realize that video conference and online classes are impossible to avoid at the University of the Virgin Islands, and in any case, it is a totally different experience when the professor is on St. Croix and the St. Croix students have the advantage.
Out of the roughly 330 classes currently being taught at UVI’s St. Croix campus – some of them repeated courses being taught by several professors or in different sections – 70 of them are video conference courses and 33 of them are online. Most of these courses are upper level courses and the professors are located on the St. Thomas campus. This means that about 31 percent of all classes being taught on the St. Croix campus are asynchronous upper level courses in which the student either never sees the professor or in which the professor is merely one of several faces on a screen.
Online and video conference courses do have their advantages because they allow students to have access to more classes and more professors than one campus provides. Online courses in particular can also be more convenient for commuter and non-traditional students who have busy lives and have a harder time making it to classes on a regular basis.
Despite the advantages, students and even some professors seem to prefer regular classes to online or video conference classes.
Dr. David Gould, an English professor, prefers teaching in the classroom to teaching online because in online classes there is “not enough face to face communication and online classes encourage plagiarism.”
The login page for the site used to connect to classes online. (Photo credit – Arige Shrouf)
“I prefer regular classes in a single classroom in which I can interact with the professor and my classmates more effectively,” Corwin Commabatch, a junior majoring in business administration said. “But online classes represent a challenge that can be useful for when we graduate and we are on our own.”
According to Commabatch, online classes force students to be more responsible, to “learn to adjust and be professional” and they are more convenient because they allow him to work at his own pace.
Dr. Valerie Combie, a Master Professor of English, certified to teach online classes said, “I always prefer regular classes. I like the interaction and I can assist students more when they are present in real life.”
“In video conference classes, it is harder to engage with the students,” Dr. Gould said.
With about 88 percent of junior and senior level English courses, 85 percent of upper level communications courses, 58 percent of criminal justice courses, 50 percent of accounting courses and 35 percent of upper level psychology courses – just to name a few – currently being taught online or via video conference, UVI professors and students are no strangers to the varied class formats and most have their preferences.
Zohn Fleming, a sophomore speech communication and theater major said, “I like the video conference classes better because I get to hear a lot of different opinions from students on both or all three campuses. I wish more of my classes were video conference, but I don’t like online classes because I just keep forgetting to do the work.”
With asynchronous classes, it sometimes seems to be a case of “out of sight, out of mind.”
“The video conference class got to the point where I just did what I had to do and nothing more. I would sit in class and be on my phone or iPad the whole time because no one cared,” Sarah Jagrup said. “My interest was not there at all because there was a total disconnect and I was left out. I wished I had more access to my professor.”
“I can’t engage in an online class when the professor is on St. Thomas, but now that I am a senior, I just don’t care anymore,” Sarah said.
“I don’t think it’s fair for students on the remote campus,” Dr. Combie said.
Sophia Horsford, a junior majoring in criminal justice said, “the professors in St. Thomas are hard to get in contact with and if more of our classes were regular classes with just St. Croix, we would have no technical difficulties.”
I would prefer if more of my classes were regular/traditional classes because in class it’s more personal,” Olinger Augustin, a sophomore majoring in communications said. “You don’t have to yell over to the camera and you are more likely to be remembered.”
Shanah Bannis, a senior psychology major said, “I prefer regular classes for the interaction and online classes for the convenience, but in video conference courses is it not easy to engage both sides.”
Despite the challenges of asynchronous courses, they play a crucial role in our campus and, when the technology works and the students are kept engaged, these courses can be effective and provide the campus with a useful resource to connect with not only St. Thomas but St. John as well. Without video conference and online courses, there would be over 100 fewer classes at UVI and taking the necessary classes would be an even greater challenge for students trying to graduate in a timely manner.
Video conference classroom in the St. John Academic Center, allowing students to connect with the two main UVI campuses. (photo credit: uvi.edu)
“I actually like VC classes,” Dr. Gillian Royes, a communications professor said. “It can be fun with small classes where the students on both campuses get to discuss issues together.”
“Providing video-conferencing and on-line courses provides a service to those who may not otherwise have the opportunity to matriculate,” Nancy W. Morgan, a professor of education, said. “With a motivated student, is not ‘something’ better than ‘nothing’?”
For students like Sarah Jagrup who have had horrible experiences with online or video conference classes, that motivation is hard to come by or maintain.
“At the end of the day,” Sarah said, “you just have to suck it up and get used to it because more and more of your classes are going to be online or video conference.”
ST.CROIX — It’s Wednesday again down at the farm. Ismael struggles to hold the yolk down as research analyst, Sue digs her finger into its anus to remove the feces. Sue then inserts the lubricated probe into the goat’s vagina which is connected to an ultrasound machine and watches to see if they are pregnant. This is part of the weekly routine at the field.
After that process is complete, Ismael places the sheep on the scale so Sue can check and record their weight. The latter process of Wednesday’s routine entails digging out the other sheep’s poop and injecting them to get a blood sample. The poop and blood sample is saved to be taken into the lab to be tested for tape worms. This procedure is not done on every sheep each week. It is done periodically, at set intervals of ages or set intervals of time.
Sue Lakos inserts the probe in the yolk. (photo credit: Karine Cox)
All this action takes place on a regular basis at University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) in the southeast corner of the St. Croix campus in the field near the nursing classes. This area is called the “Animal Science Department,” where the sheep and even dogs and donkeys are kept.
UVI is a land-grant, Historically Black College and University (HBCU). This allowed establishment for the Agricultural Experiment Station. The Animal Science Department is a research area under AES. The Animal Science Department passes on information to the Cooperative Extension Service (CES) and then CES disseminates the information to the public and deals directly with the farmers.
“The other aspect of the land-grant college that we don’t have is the educational side which would be classes in agriculture,” Sue Lakos said. “We would love to see an agriculture program come in.”
There are a several flocks down in the field. This includes two different breeding flocks, an ‘A’ flock and ‘B’ flock; these are the female sheep with their babies. They also keep a batch of the males, called the rams, and two separate wailing flocks, one male and one female. The breeds of sheep in the flock are St. Croix White and Dorper.
There are set breeding seasons. The A and B flocks are managed on eight month cycles to produce three lamb crops every two years. There is a five week breeding period.
Amran Nero is a student worker in the Animal Science department for Agricultural Experimental Station (AES). He enjoys his job working with the sheep down in the field. He has an assigned project in which he measures and documents the heat temperature of the pregnant and lactating yolks.
“You take a probe with a date entry on it, it has a battery inside of it, then you lubricate it and insert it inside the yolk’s vagina,” Nero said. “Every two hours, you need to check to see if the probes fell, because sometimes they do fall out, especially when the yolk is pregnant.”
Yolks and their babies in the field. (photo credit: Karine Cox)
The probes stay in the yolks for one week. This project is done twice per semester. It was done in February and will be done in April this semester.
Not only does Amran work with the sheep, but he also does maintenance work around the field such as fencing, cutting trees and feeding the animals.
“My job is challenging, but it helps me to grow personally and professionally. It is also very hands on and I like that about it,” Nero said.
AES conducts research in order to improve livestock production and then to pass on this information to the farmer, in order for them to make more money. One way they do this is by conducting parasite studies because there are currently a lot of worm issues. Having at least a few parasites in the sheep is crucial. This is because the parasites you do have can become resistant to the wormer.
The wonder of an AES job is getting the feel of both work and class. A lot of research is carried out in these jobs, which makes it feel like a lab. It is also a hands-on job, therefore it entails a lot of interaction.
Though AES jobs may seem like a lot of work, students do get paid well for that type of job. So seeing Sue, Ismael and Amran fondle the sheep’s anus and insert probes into sheep may seem funny and unusual, but they get paid well for these jobs too.
ST. CROIX — The University of the Virgin Islands “celebrated their employees with high esteem for 2015” on Tuesday, April 14, at the 41st annual service awards on the Albert A. Sheen Campus.
30 employees were awarded for their outstanding service and dedication to the university, with honors from employee of the year, perfect attendance and extensive years of service.
Family, friends, faculty and staff came out to support the service awards’ honorees
Guest speaker, Marilyn Brathwaite-Hall, thanked the honorees for their service and acknowledged that they had in them 6 universal ideals that shaped their lives: Career well-being,social-well being, physical well-being, financial-well being, community well-being and spiritual well-being.
“So when we recognize our honorees today, we understand that they have engaged — whether intentionally or not — these essential elements of their lives,” Hall said, “and have chosen to navigate successfully through the challenges, valley, and the mountaintop experiences of their career, social, financial ,physical, community, and spiritual lives to keep moving forward and persist in being apart of serving the extraordinary UVI family and for that we say Thank you for your service.”
Awarded for five years of service was: Maritza Belardo-DeCosta, Luis Carino Jr., Bernard Castillo II, Beulah Lateef, Margaret Maynard, Gabriel Ogunmokun, and James Gordon.
For 10 years of service, Glendaley Carrasquillo, Leroy Gardiner, Iren Hatchett-Sealer, and Lorna Williams-Sutton were awarded.
15 years of service was awarded to Celestine Cuffy, Ephraim Rodriguez, Angel Gonzalez and Donna Gonzalez.
Dr. Simon Jones-Hendrickson receives award for 35 years of service at the University of the Virgin Islands
Holly Gayadeen was awarded for 20 years of service.
Fracisca Barry, Maria Fleming, Maria Friday, Aubrey Washington and Nereida Washington received an award for 25 years at the University.
For their 35 years of service, Simon Jones-Hendrickson and Alan Lewit were recognized. Hendrickson was also acknowledged as a retiree along with Velma Tyson and Jillean Clarke-Webster.
Perfect attendance was given to William Gonzalez and Clement Humphreys and employee of the year was presented to Fiola Alexander.
Cherie Wheatley also presented W.O.W (We Overachieve Willingly) awards to those who provided excellence in service delivery and connected to their customers in a special way.
The ceremony concluded with words from Cleveland Tonge, followed by a small reception.
FELICIA EMMANUEL | ST.CROIX – Two St. Thomas students, each vying for this year’s position as student representative to the University of the Virgin Islands’ Board of Trustees presented their platforms on Monday, April 13, in the Cafetorium.
The position which alternates between the St. Thomas and St.Croix campuses, allows the elected individual to act as the student liaison to the university’s executive board.
Standing on stage before a mixed crowd of faculty and students, candidates Devon Williams and Hakim Potter, both expressed their desire to be “the voice” students needed in the university.
The first candidate, UVI student Devon Williams, based his platform on three pillars – synergy, communication and an active voice.
“The reason I chose synergy is because of the fact that in order for the best decision to be made on behalf of the student body, we must first come together and decide what is the best course of action in terms of the decisions being made by the board,” Williams said.
Williams’ second pillar, communication, was founded on the need for constant communication which would be done using social media, email and other modes of communication. This approach ensured that communication with his St. Croix constituents would not be lost.
From left to right: UVI student Devon Williams, SGA President Sophia Johnson, Student Activities Supervisor, Hedda Finch-Simpson, and UVI student Hakim Potter. Photo Credit: Felicia Emmanuel
Williams also promised an active voice regarding issues affecting students so that they “become more aware of what is happening and less things strike students as a surprise when they are involved in every process and every step of the changes being made to the school.”
Junior Business Administration student Hakim Potter’s slogan, “I am you,” reminded the student body that he was focused on representing them.
“As students, we generally have no say, or we believe we generally have no say,” Potter said regarding students who felt powerless to administrative decisions.
He believed that it was time for the students to be heard. Careful with his promises, Potter assured students that the process would be “held up until we come to a peaceful compromise.”
“We need things to be done how we want things to be done,” he said. “I could assure you that if I am appointed to this position, all situations and all things being spoken about by the board will be presented to the student body.”
For more information about the Albert A Sheen campus elections, contact the Student Activities Office at 692-4228.
ST. THOMAS – The campaign for Student Government Association positions has reached a fever pitch in recent days.
With barely one week left before poll day, candidates vying for seats on the SGA board are pulling out all the stops to distinguish themselves from their rivals. Seven positions are up for grabs – president, vice president, sophomore senator, junior senator, senior senator, treasurer, and student representative to the Board of Trustees.
Three candidates – Marvin Shelford, Yohance Martin, and Ish-Shawnnn Halbert – have thrown their hats in the ring for the SGA presidential seat.
With his campaign slogan, “Your Choice; Your Change,” Shelford is promising that once elected, he will improve the UVI shuttle transportation system to make it more reliable and less congested. He will actively advocate for the improvement of campus surveillance and security and increase on-campus and off-campus activities and entertainment.
He will coordinate an effective and efficient grievance committee to defend the rights of students and lobby against the inflation of students’ tuition and institutional fees. He will also actively advocate for profitable ventures and opportunities for students, such as on-campus jobs and scholarships and enhance the overall academic, recreational and sanitary conditions at UVI.
Martin’s aim, according to his catchphrase, is “To Satisfy the People.”
If given the mandate, Halbert will ensure “better cafeteria conditions, learning assistance, new and diverse activities, renovations and additions and policy updates and outreach programs,” according to his campaign poster.
Deeno Cumberbatch, Cashkim Bussue, and Cody Richardson, who is Martin’s running mate, have their eyes on the vice presidency.
“Change is a must, not an option” is Bussue’s rallying cry. He is assuring students that a vote for him is a vote for “re-evaluated parking system; improved health system/insurance; employment opportunities for international students; and revived campus life.”
The position of SGA Treasurer is being sought after by Tonya Greene and Denaesha Phipps.
Greene has taken to social media to boost her campaign and according to her Facebook page, her number one focus “would be the financial and economic concern of the student body.” As SGA Treasurer, Greene will “lobby for fair and equal disbursement of funds to all registered clubs, organizations and associations and actively advocate for profitable ventures for the benefit of the SGA and student population.
She will coordinate financial seminars to educate and encourage students on the best practices for savings and wise money management and encourage clubs to collaborate with other clubs on events to help share the financial burdens of organizing events. She will also have monthly financial reporting for transparency and ensure the proper and accurate record keeping of the SGA.”
Phipps is simply urging students to “Make A Vote That Counts.”
Contestants vying for SGA Sophomore Senator are Denine Hurtault and Kaunda Williams.
Both Lisa Marie-Hodge and DeWein Pelle are campaigning for the office of SGA Junior Senator.
If elected to serve in that position, Pelle plans to increase campus engagement/activities, foster UVI-related projects to better the Virgin Islands community, increase students’ academic performance and facilitate student internships (career productivity and readiness).
DeWein Pelle, candidate for SGA Junior Senator, handing out campaign flyers to students in the hallway just outside the office of the Center for Student Success.
(photo credit: Corliss Smithen)
Hodge’s catch line is, “Let her voice be the change you wish to see! Vote for progress and equality!”
The lone candidate for senior senator is Tonecia Rogers.
SGA hopefuls have been seen around campus familiarizing themselves with students in meet-and-greet sessions inside the classrooms, at the library, at the cafeteria, in the hallways, and in dormitories.
Two students – Hakim Potter and Devon Williams – are each hoping to be elected as Student Representative to the Board of Trustees.
Potter describes himself as “a student who is not afraid to speak up; a student who believes in equality” and he is asking his peers to “let him be your voice.”
On Tuesday night, SGA aspirants will officially launch their platforms before the student population at a “Meet the Candidates” forum scheduled for 7 at the West Hall Conference Room.
Election Day is slated for Thursday April, 15. There will be two polling stations – juniors and seniors will cast their votes at the library (upper campus), while freshmen and sophomores will be balloting at the CA building (lower campus).
Research Day activity at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center, St. Thomas campus. (Photo credit: Corliss Smithen)
ST. THOMAS – Students had the opportunity to showcase their skills in information gathering, data collection and extrapolation during Research Day on Thursday.
The University hosted its 4th annual Research Day, an activity aimed at allowing the public to view the results of research conducted by UVI students and faculty on a variety of wide-ranging issues that affect the community, such as intimate partner violence, impact of social media on VI Caribbean Culture in the 21st century, youths and gangs, medical marijuana in the U.S. Virgin Islands, stress and marital satisfaction as it relates to relationship satisfaction, the effect of employment and academic achievement, the relationship between depression and academic performance in students at UVI, and influences that contribute to the rise of gang violence within our schools.
Bonnie President, an undergraduate student from the College of Science and Mathematics, conducted her research and presented her findings on sophorolipid production using candida bombicola. She said the experience was a “great” one for her and she encouraged other students to venture into the world of research.
“Doing research is always a great experience simply because you learn new skills that are going to help in your future career. I loved this experience and I enjoy doing research,” President said. “I learned about ‘sophorolipids’ and ‘candida bombicola,’ both of which I had absolutely no clue about before I began. It’s a learning experience and I encourage other students to give it a try.”
Ayishih Bellew from the Eastern Caribbean Center was part of the Research Day committee and she outlined the purpose of the event.
“Research Day is part of the strategic plan for 2017. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to do research and showcase research they are involved in,” Bellew said. “The UVI Research Day gives faculty, staff and students the ability to reach the community with some of the research UVI is involved in. Each class, school and center submitted research.”
Bellew said participants were also being judged on their posters and presentation.
“We also have a contest going on for best student poster and presentation. They are competing for a $500 award. Judges are taken from a pool of faculty and staff involved in the research,” Bellew said.
The winner has not yet been announced.
UVI Research Day was spearheaded by the Vice Provost of Research and Public Service, Frank L. Mills.
“On Research Day the entire Virgin Islands public is invited to see exciting research that is taking place in all the colleges and schools of UVI,” Mills was quoted as saying in a press release. “We aim to expose high school teachers, counselors and their seniors to the fields of study that could inflame the seniors’ interest in a profession.”
Research Day activities were held simultaneously at the Sports and Fitness Center on the St. Thomas Campus and at the UVI Great Hall, Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix. There were approximately 52 participants on St. Thomas and 28 on St. Croix.
St. THOMAS- Transitioning from high school to college may be a breeze for some, but for others, it may become quite the headache.
Shaquan Lewis, an 18-year-old accounting major, thought that “making friends and keeping up with the work load would be the most difficult things to get used to.” In the high school he attended, his teachers and friends made it seem like the college professors were “heartless monsters.” To get over his fear, Lewis made sure he stayed on top of the game. He always made sure to look at his syllabus, and plan his day the night before, to make sure to complete every task that he is given.
Bombarded by work
Jakobi Peetes, an 18-year-old applied math major at the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas, said, “The hardest thing for me was finding a balance between school work and fun.”
Some students are prepared and ready for the change, like Jaelene Henderson who is an 18-year-old freshman. This commuter said, “I haven’t had any difficult experiences with transitioning from high school.”
Partying, sex and peer pressure, are present everywhere, and it increases during the years of college. Peetes said he wasn’t worried because he “knew what he was taught.”
This is not the case for some freshmen. Sadly, many of them lose themselves to become part of the crowd.
Safety is a big part of what students are afraid of. School shootings occur across the United States, and that can traumatize many freshmen.
Procrastination is an epidemic that has become a serious problem for many. Some students, especially freshmen, may procrastinate way too much.
“In some subjects like social science and English I can save for last,” Peetes said, “ but classes like math and science, I complete right away.”
The transition from high school to college may be frightening, but there is always a way to conquer it. It’s up to you to figure out your balance and make your college career successful!
UVI VOICE 