President: Trinidad and Tobago 'desperately' needs good youth role models

PRESIDENT Christine Kangaloo says this country desperately requires good youth role models. As a result she urged young people to continue working towards their goals and never to settle.

She was speaking at the 27th annual National Youth Awards at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain, on Thursday night.

There were 17 categories of awards, including agriculture, arts and culture, sport, environmental stability and leadership.

"A president's diary can get filled up by an innumerable number of engagements, and a president can get pulled in a million different directions," Kangaloo said.

But she added, "A president's heart, however, is never as filled up as when she is invited to an engagement like the one we are having this evening – one which focuses on and celebrates our nation's young people."

She said she felt proud to see their accomplishments, hailing them as "walking, living, breathing embodiments of the truism: Anything worth having is worth working hard for."

She said there had been a lot of negative reports about young people in TT recently, so the ceremony was a timely and much-needed reminder of the "wealth of talent that resides within our nation's youth.

"Each and every one of you fills me with tremendous hope and confidence for the future of our country."

Growing up, she said, she always heard the phrase: Children ought to be seen and not heard.

But nothing could be further from the truth, she said.

"I'm happy that the young people here today either never heard that saying, or if they did, that they were wise enough to have ignored it completely.

"The young people whose success we acknowledge today have not achieved what they have by being shy wallflowers or shrinking violets. They've accomplished what they have by being a fearless and confident bunch of young people who made a conscious decision to pursue excellence, and having done so, have now emerged as beacons of light and inspiration to our entire nation."

She said young people must be seen as engines of growth and not a problem to be addressed.

She added that she hopes the nominees and awardees inspire others, as some young people have "sadly found themselves in all forms of anti-social behaviour."

"You will have the chance to be role models.

"If there is one thing of which we can all be certain, it is that good youth role models are desperately required in our country today."

Many people on social media, she said, spread "unwholesome, toxic" opinions on how they believe young people should think and behave. She urged the youth in the audience to change that narrative.

"Youth are good and decent and brave and talented and gifted and able.

"Very soon, our present generation will have to give way to our young people. They will be in the driver's seat sooner than we realise, and it is up to us to ensure they are suitably equipped, trained and mobilised to take the wheel and steer us into a better tomorrow."

She said excellence is more than being outstanding at particular disciplines or crafts, as one's behaviour and attitude are equally important.

"True excellence is our being the best all-round human being that we can be in everything we do, no matter how small and no matter how large."

She urged: "Keep at your passions, never settle, never believe you are too young or insignificant to achieve. Never ever believe that lie."