Three schools win $175k in RBC Young Leaders prizes

THREE schools have won a total of $175,000 in prize money in the 2024 RBC Young Leaders competition.

The closing ceremony took place at the Trinidad Hilton in Port of Spain on September 16.

Manzanilla Secondary took the first place prize of $100,000, for its project, a fully sustainable greenhouse with rainwater collection systems and solar powered energy sources.

Naparima Girls' College took second place with its project, which developed a rainwater harvesting system to collect, filter and store 3,000 gallons of water at the La Pique Hill in San Fernando. The school won a $50,000 payout for the second prize.

St Stephen’s College won third prize with its project, which focused on food security, reducing plastic pollution and changing the perception of careers in agriculture. The programme offered hands-on learning opportunities to engage students and the community on sustainable practices. St Stephen’s College won $25,000.

The prize money will be donated to each school as funding for their individual projects.

Prizes were also given for the best team written proposal, won by St Stephen's College, best team oral presentation, won by Naparima Girls' High School and most innovative proposal, won by Roxborough Secondary School.

Maikhailanne Dyer from Naparima Girls’ High School copped the prize for best individual presenter.

This year’s competition involved 66 students from 11 schools, who developed their own sustainable, community-based projects over a 13-week period, with the assistance of teachers, personal sponsors and chaperones.

At the end each school had an opportunity to pitch its projects to a panel of judges for the grand prize money, a challenge trophy and bragging rights.

Each project was based on this year’s Young Leaders’ theme – Conserve, produce and enhance.

RBC senior corporate counsel Linnel Pierre, who spoke on behalf of the judges, said the judges panel, comprising of representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and RBC, were impressed with the students’ creativity, innovation and commitment to the themes.

“We appreciated how each project showcased a unique approach to the theme. The diversity of ideas presented not only highlighted the depth of understanding among the participants but also illustrated the potential for meaningful change within their communities,” she said.

“The written and oral presentations were well put together and displayed a level of professionalism that surpassed our expectations of students at the form 4 level. We particularly pleased to see the learning shared with the students on topics including project management, budgeting, environmental social governance, climate change, and presentation skills were understood and applied in all the projects.”

RBC Caribbean Banking treasurer Nichola Guy-Alexander lauded the students for their enthusiasm and creativity. She said the projects showed age is no barrier to making a significant change.

“Whether you worked on reducing plastic waste, sustainable farming, conserving water, promoting renewable energy and any other vital initiative, you have demonstrated that each one has the power to drive change,” she said.