Proud of Them: Greyshell Bent and Shannon Williams
(CNSLocal Life): To introduce the public to the latest crop of Proud of Them recipients, the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture andLands is releasing biographies of the 10 young people recognised. Greyshell Bent earned the distinction for community service and Shannon Williams for academics.
As a member and leader of the John Gray High School (JGHS) Key Club for five years, Bent(18) performed more than 110 hours of community service annually while balancing her school work (including extra subjects), carrying out her duties as a prefect and maintaining a positive, enthusiastic attitude, stated a ministry press release.
She joined the Key Club in Year 8 and was appointed membership chairperson, a job she did with “distinction”. With 75 hours of community service under her belt, she gained the Distinguished Member Award at District Convention.
She was then elected secretary and “her time management, organisational and communication skills were put to the test as she undertook the mammoth task of keeping accurate records of minutes, attendance and correspondence”, the ministry said. She also was tasked with ensuring the Key Club Pride Report was submitted on time to the Florida District. Through her efforts, the club won six awards at Convention 2016 and Bent won the Secretary Award and earned a banner patch for her report submission.
She was elected president of the Key Club in the same year she began her CXC exam courses, but still found time to organise various Key Club school and community projects. Notable initiatives included Key Meets Culture, which helped children learn about their Caymanian heritage; a lunch at school for 20 senior citizens where they shared their talents and life experiences; an Earth Day Fair; a school beautification project; and lunch for residents at a care facility inWest Bay.
As the lieutenant governor for all five Cayman Key Clubs, she “took the organisations to new levels of excellence”, resulting in the Cayman clubs for the first time winning five trophies at the 2018 International Convention. In 2017, Bent earned the Distinguished President award at the convention.
She graduated from JGHS with a high honours diploma complemented by the Kiwanis Service Award and School Leadership Award. Now studying business at UCCI, Bent plans to study fashion marketing at the London College of Fashion or University of Hertfordshire in the UK.
Spurred by a “love for all things STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)”, Williams (21) has pursued studies in a related field as well as helped other students “discover the excitement and the possibilities that exist in this area of education”, the ministry said in the release.
After earning an associate of science degree in computer science at the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI), he is studying for a bachelor of science degree in information technology with an emphasis on software engineering at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania. One UCCI professor described him as “hardworking, respectful, self-motivated and dedicated, possessing a flair for innovation and excellent leadership skills”, the release stated.
Williams was a very active member of the UCCI STEM Club, an organisation which encourages students to get involved with various STEM projects such as robotics, remotely operated vehicles and unmanned autonomous vehicles. He was instrumental in seeing several major robotics assignments through to completion, the press release said. The projects included designing and building a remote-control system for a robotic arm using an Arduino microcomputer and building a stepper motor controller for a newly designed solar Newtonian telescope at the Dr William Hrudey Observatory on the UCCI campus. In addition, he was a facilitator for the Drone and Robotics Club – which still meets regularly – where he shared his time and expertise as a mentor.
At Harrisburg, Williams founded The 001 Group, a student software development association whose purpose is to better prepare primarily computer science students for careers during and after completing their studies. The idea came to him after he noticed the gap between the skillsets and exposure of IT professionals and students while interning at Walkers during a summer break. Most recently, he wrote a proposal which won The 001 Group a university presidential research grant of US$20,000 to be used to increase the quality of student life via a mobile application.
Category: Youth
