Service Above Self
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Simpson Bay, SXM
Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
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World Interact Week
Ineractors from The Charlotte Brookson Academy and St. Dominic's High School joined us at our general meeting on November 5th for Interact's Birthday.
Judges, parents and dignateries after the presentation of the final awards of the 8th Rotary & Rotaract Spelling Bee 2019
The top five finishers from the Semi-Final round of the 8th Annual Rotary/Rotaract Spelling Bee 2019 qualify for the final round being held on Sunday November 3rd, 2019
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Ten qualify for a spot in the Semi-Final round of the 8th Annual Rotary/Rotaract Spelling Bee 2019.
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The 8th Annual Rotary/Rotaract Spelling Bee 2019 to start Sunday October 20th at the Belair Community Center.
Mid Isle will host their annual Ramesh Manek Walk-a-Thon for 'End Polio Now' on Saturday Otrober 19th.
Ticket cost is USD 15.00 which includes an 'End Polio Now' T.shirt and breakfast.
Tickets are available from all Mid Isle Rotarians.
The Caribbean International Academy (CIA) and the Montessori School students extend help to the Bahamas Disaster Relief fund.
Back to School Back Packs
Now that the school summer vacation is almost over, we need to inspire and encourage our children to learn, but to do that we need to give them the right tools. Hence when Ki-Mani Olivacce reached out to The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle to help students in need within the community, to equip them for the school year they were ready to help.
It takes compassion to think of others who are in need. While we are all taught to share and help our neighbors, 18-year-old Ki-Mani Olivacce a 12th grade student of The Learning Unlimited Preparatory School, was inspired to take it to the next level. For the fourth year in a row Ki-Mani and his foundation ‘Voices of our Children’ have reached out to the community to come together to donate to a worthy cause of a ‘Back to School Drive’ for students in need. Ki-Mani is to be commended for taking this initiative four years ago to start this project, in fact in February of this year The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid presented him with a Paul Harris Fellowship in recognition of his initiative.
The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle heeded the call for the fourth year under the Leadership of Service Projects Director Grace Linger. This year the foundation ‘All about a Smile’ was once again on board and donated 48 back packs, the items in the back packs were funded by the Mid Isle Rotarians and Rotarian Jeff and friends. Last Saturday July 20th, Mid Isle Rotarians packed the forty-eight school back packs for the less fortunate students in our community. This amounted to twenty-four back packs for elementary school students, and twenty-four back packs for secondary school students which have all the necessary items for the start of the new school year 2019-2020. The back packs consist of color pencils, markers, crayons, pens, pencils’, pencil cases, scientific calculators, rulers, erasers, folders, 3 ring binders, loose leaf paper, copy books, geometry sets etc.
‘Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself’. – John Dewey
The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle Aid the Community Outreach Mentorship Empowerment Center
For Valentine 2018 The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle were able to assist the Community Outreach Mentorship and Empowerment Center (COME) with food items for their soup kitchen with the project ‘Rotary has Heart to Make a Difference’. This project was first and foremost an effort to put food on an empty plate, to fill an empty stomach to bring a ray of hope to the hungry.
Recently Donna Morrison from the COME center reached out to Mid Isle asking for help with items for their soup kitchen. Mid Isle Rotarian Jeff with the help of three of his clients were able to help with the fresh items needed, while on behalf of The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle, President Denise, Secretary Aernout and Foundation Chair David shopped and delivered the non-perishable items needed from the required list.
After the passing of Hurricane Irma, the COME Center embarked on a project to provide breakfast and lunch for persons in the community who were in need of a hot meal on a daily basis. They currently feed 75 persons daily. The COME Center also provides an adult literacy program and computer classes for seniors.
5TH Scotiabank Rotary- Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018
On Sunday Anguilla shone at 5th Scotiabank Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018. The five finalists headed to The Belair Community Center to go head to head to determine the winner of the final round of the 5th Scotiabank Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018 were from St. Maarten Nasya Gayle - MAC John A. Gumbs Campus, Mikage Dorcelus - Ruby Labega Primary School, Sameer Chatani – Seventh Day Adventist School, and from the Anguilla Schools Zakkai Lake and Ayana Carty. These three girls and two boys were well supported by a large crowd of family, friends, classmates and teachers.
The 5thh Scotiabank Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018 was held in three consecutive rounds. The first round, the Preliminary Round had 29 participants from 14 schools, in this round the children had to spell the selected 20 words on paper. The top ten highest scorers from the Preliminary Round went onto the Semi- Finals. The ten Semi-Finalists from eight schools had to spell out their words into a microphone in front of the judges and audience. The top five highest scorers from the Semi-Finals went headed onto the final round. All twenty-nine participants of the 5th Scotiabank Rotary- Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018 represented their respective schools admirably.
It was a very close finish for all five participants in the final round and there was a tie for third place. For the two girls with the third place tie, their scores from the preliminary and Semi-Final rounds were calculated which broke the tie by just one point. In first place came Ayana Carty from Anguilla she won the first place trophy and an APPLE IMAC 21.5” desk top computer, in second place came Zakkai Lake also from Anguilla, who received the second place trophy and an APPLE MacBook Air 13.3 “, In third place came Mikage Dorcelus from Ruby Labega Primary School, she received the third place trophy and a IPAD 5th Generation 9.7”. In fourth place came Nasya Gayle from MAC John A. Gumbs Campus, who went home with a Samsung Galaxy J7 Neo cellphone. Fifth place went to Sameer Chatani from Seventh Day Adventist School who got to take home a JBL Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphone and a fidget spinner.
The Anguilla schools won a Printer for being the most supportive school. Also in attendance to support the five finalist were Ms. Selma Baker and other representatives of the main sponsor Scotiabank, The Honorable Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Minister Wycliffe Smith who spoke with the participants before the start of the final and The Assistant District Governor for District 7020 Marcellia Henry. The Anguilla schools were also awarded a DELL Optiplex 3020 computer and an AOC. 1905 SWD 19” class screen led-lit computer monitor as the prize for the winning school. Scotiabank presented all 29 participants with backpacks filled with goodies.
The 40” TV donated by Shop and Take was also raffled.
The five finalists were asked for their comments on the Spelling Bee, and these ranged from, “it was good;” “it was fun;” “it was a lot of words;” “they learnt many new words;” and “there was a lot of studying that had to be done”
Mid Isle would like to take this opportunity to thank Scotiabank the main sponsor of the 5th Scotiabank Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018 along with gold sponsor Guardian Group Fatum and the many other sponsors without whose help we could not have had a successful Spelling Bee.
Semi-Finals of 5TH Scotiabank Rotary-Rotoract Spelling Bee 2018
Last Sunday The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle hosted the semi-finals of the 5th Scotiabank Rotary-Rotoract Spelling Bee 2018.
The ten semi-finalists representing six schools were Yaashoda Sanchara from Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School, Nasya Gayle from MAC School Rev. John A. Gumbs Campus, Nihal Chugani from St. Dominic Primary School, Khushi Soneji from Mac School – Browlia F. Maillard Campus, Sameer Chatani from St. Maarten Seventh Day Adventist School, Mikage Dorecelus from Ruby Labega Primary School, and from the Anguilla School, Tamara Hall-Sampson, Jayda Adams, Zakkai Lake and Ayana Carty.
The judges were introduced, the moderator Rhodda Arrindell, head judge President Denise Antrobus, judges Rotarian Davy Moree and Rotarian Reena Manek, logistics tech Theodore Wilson and time keeper Rotarian Aernout Kraaijeveld. The St. Maarten Song was sung by Spelling Bee Chair Grace Linger.
In the Preliminary Round the participants had to write the selected words, but this week at the semi-finals, they were required to stand in front of the audience and the judges and speak into the microphone with their selected word. Each participant had to spell twenty words. Ten words per round with a ten-minute break in between; each word was worth five points. At the end of the semi-finals there was no tie but it was a tight finish.
Heading to the finals representing three schools from St. Maarten are Nasya Gayle - MAC John A. Gumbs Campus, Mikage Dorcelus - Ruby Labega Primary School, Sameer Chatani – Seventh Day Adventist School, and from the Anguilla Schools Zakkai Lake and Ayana Carty.
The finals will be held at the Belair community Center. The finals will start promptly at 1.00 pm p.m. Everyone is asked to be on time, and participants are asked to arrive by 12 noon. Family, friends, classmates and teachers are invited to come out to support and cheer on the five finalists, as there will be a prize for the school with the largest number of supporters. There is also a 40” TV being raffled, so if you have bought a ticket(s), the drawing will take place on the final day of the Spelling Bee on October 28th, you have to be present to win!
5TH Scotiabank Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018 Kicked off on Sunday
Twenty-nine nervous and eager participants from sixteen schools were ready for the start of the preliminaries of the 5th Scotiabank Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee 2018 on Sunday at the Belair Community Center.
Before the start of the Spelling Bee the St. Maarten Song was sung by Chantoni Da Cunha and ???. followed by speeches from the Honorable Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports the Honorable Minister Wycliffe Smith who stressed that the children should READ, READ, READ to advance in their spelling. Assistant District Governor Marcellia Henry emphasized Rotary’s focus world wide on basic education and literature. The representative from Scotiabank Ms. Imelda Joseph ????President of The Rotary Club of St. Maarten Denise Antrobus gave the audience some feed back of what the participants thought of the four tutorials held this year at the University of St. Martin. She also thanked the sponsors for their support of the Spelling Bee which without them this would not have been possible. Special thanks went out to the main sponsor Scotiabank and chairlady service projects director Grace Linger for organizing this event. President of The Rotaract Club of St. Maarten Sunrise Lerissa Rey made sure all the participants were ready. All the speakers let the participants know that they were all already winners by being there and ready to compete.
The judges were introduced, the moderator Rhodda Arrindell, head judge President Denise Antrobus, judges Rotarian Davy Moree and Rotarian Reena Manek, logistics tech Theodore ??? and time keeper Rotarian Aernout Kraajeveld.
Finally, an explanation of the rules was given to the participants, who were anxiously waiting to start. For the preliminary round the participants had to write twenty words. The word was read out, given in a sentence and read out again, they had thirty seconds to write the word on the sheet provided.
The Top ten finishers representing six schools were Yaashoda Sanchara from Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School, Nasya gayle from MAC School – Rev. john A. Gumbs Campus, Nihal Chugani from St. Dominic Primary School, Khushi Soneji from Mac School – Browlia f. Maillard Campus, Sameer Chatani from St. Maarten Seventh Day Adventist School, Mikage Dorecelus from Ruby Labega Primary School, and from the Anguilla Schools. Tamara Hall-Sampson, Jayda Adams, Zakkai Lake and Ayana Carty. These top ten finishers are now headed for the semi-final round being held on Sunday October 21st. The five-top finishers from the semi-final round will head to the final round on Sunday October 28th.
Don’t study to earn, study to learn, what you learn today is what you will become tomorrow.
The 2018 Scotiabank Rotary-Rotary Spelling Bee kicks off this Sunday at the Belair Community center, organized and hosted by The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle, the latter said in a statement on Thursday.
“Fourteen schools have entered, twelve from St. Maarten and two from Anguilla. The St. Maarten Schools are MAC Browlia F. Maillard Campus, MAC Rev. john A. Gumbs Campus, Marie Genevieve De Weever School, Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. School, Oranje School, Ruby Labega Primary School, Leonald Connor School, Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School, Seventh Day Adventist School, Sister Regina Primary School, St. Dominic Primary School, St. Joseph Primary School, Methodist Agogic Center School (JAG).
“The two schools from Anguilla are Alywn Allison Richardson Primary and The Valley Primary School. There are 34 participants in total.
“The Spelling Bee will be held at The Belair Community Center over three weeks. The first round, the preliminary round will be held on Sunday 14th October. The fifteen highest scorers from the preliminary round will advance to the second round, the semifinals, which is being held on Sunday 21st October.
“The five highest scorers from the semifinals will advance to the final round. The final round is being held on Sunday 28th October.
“The participants are expected at The Belair Community Center at 12 noon for a prompt start at 1pm.
“Due to the success of the first tutorials held in 2016 it was decided to hold four sessions this year at The University of St. Martin. We hope we have inspired the participants to be the best that they can be.
“We would like to encourage and welcome everyone to come and give support to the participants at the 5th Scotiabank Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee on all three Sundays. The school with the best supporting team will win a prize.
“Today's Students are our future generation. Teach them well and let them lead the way.”
The Andy and Elmer literacy project has been a success in St. Maarten, Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle announced on Monday in a statement.
“The focus of Rotary for the month of September was basic education and literacy. The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle have for the first time on St. Maarten introduced the Andy and Elmer Literacy Project. This was a pilot project that has been well received with young students.
“Andy and Elmer' s Apple Dumpling Adventure is a delightful story of a young entrepreneur named Andy, who with the help of a mysterious voice providing guidance and support, learns the value of truthfulness, fairness, goodwill and partnership that benefit everyone involved.
“This wonderful book was designed to teach the four-way test to children in the 1st to 4th grades. It is a direct implication on Rotary's focus on future generations, being a friend of education and an example to the youth.
“The Andy and Elmer activity books were introduced to Players Development and children at the Philipsburg Library, each child was given an activity book and a 4 Way Test bookmark.
“We read the book individually with each child, they enjoyed the story and enjoyed the activities in the book which included a crossword, word search, dot to dot and more, all pictures in the book the children were able to color.
“The children at Players Development were thrilled to learn the 4 Way Test as they have just been approved to set up a Rotary Early Act Club.”
MAKING THE WORLD SWEETER FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) Honey Sheridan, M.S., BCBA of Sweet ABA is making the world sweeter for children with disabilities.
The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle were pleased to have as their guest speaker Honey Sheridan. Honey gave a very informative talk on learning difficulties for children with disabilities and how even when it is on the statutes that all children between certain ages are legally bound to be in school and receiving an education, only one percent of these children actually do so. Children with disabilities are not allowed to attend school due to either behavior problems and or not being toilet trained. There needs to be more awareness so these children can be accepted by society and by the mainstream schools.
Her experience with children with disabilities ranges from preschool age (2+) to transitional age adults (18-22.) For over 10+ years she taught special education, specially providing ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy in the United States. She has taught at every level of education from elementary, to Junior High, to high school including adult transition students. In order for Honey to become a BCBA she needed her master’s degree and complete the BCBA coursework, be supervised by another BCBA, and then sat for a board exam. Just like any medical doctor or a licenses psychologist the BCBA must maintain their license with further education, this ensures that the BCBA is using the most current research. She has provided special education teachers, general education teachers, para-professionals and school administration training on Applied Behavior Analysis. Honey Sheridan has collaborated with a range of professionals from social workers, psychologists, speech language pathologists, occupational therapist, physical therapists, and parents to provide a successful curriculum behavior therapy for those that need it.
Honey Sheridan has created an ABA therapy company called Sweet ABA here on St. Maarten. Children with a range of learning disabilities to behavior problems may receive ABA Therapy to help them with the one to one support they may need. Parents may make an appointment by contacting SweetABA.com or SweetABAsxm@gmail.com
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – There were smiling faces as agendas were handed out to some of the students of the Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performance Arts.
The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle have donated 150 agendas to the students of the Charlotte Brookson Academy in Philipsburg. This donation was made possible by Premier Promotions of Fort Lauderdale. These agendas were overstock and were due to be dumped when they were offered to Mid Isle, who gratefully accepted them. The principal Mrs. Claudette Forsythe – Labega and students of CBA were very appreciative and grateful for the donation.
Inspiring Spelling Bee Participants with Tutorial Session
Four tutorials sessions have been organized to inspire the Spelling Bee Participants competing in the 2018 Scotiabank Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee.
Due to the success of the previous Tutorial sessions hosted by The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle for the Scotiabank Rotary/Rotoract Spelling Bee in 2016 it was decided to hold four sessions this year. Two tutorial sessions were already held at the University of St. Maarten on Pond Island on Saturday September 8th and 15th. The next two sessions will be held on Saturday 22nd and 29th September at 11am and ending at 1pm. Volunteers are helping the kids in pairs and sometimes individually to practice. This method really works. Of course, the participants will need to continue to practice in school and at home. Refreshments will be served as well as pizza sponsored by Domino’s. All Spelling Bee Participants are invited and encouraged to attend the remaining two tutorial sessions.
To date 11 schools have registered for the Spelling Bee from St. Maarten, there will also be participants from Anguilla. The preliminary round kicks off on Sunday October 14th at the Belair Community Center. The top 15 highest scorers from the preliminary round will head to the semi-final round on Sunday October 21. The top five highest scorers from the semi-final round will head to the final round on Sunday October 28th. Parents, family and friends are all invited to come out and support the participants.
The St. Maarten Rotary Club – Mid Isle, recently donated ladies basketball uniforms to the National Sport Institute for school and Organizational usage.
Rotary club member Femke Jansen recently contacted the Department of Sport within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport to assist with a donation of basketball uniforms and the donation was made possible by Rebekka van Heijningen from the Netherlands. The uniforms used to belong to a premier league basketball team in Utrecht, the Netherlands named Amazone. Although the uniforms, which came in various sizes, bears the name of the club Amazone and their sponsor Dance 4 Life, Ms Jansen of the Rotary club thought it still useful for the schools or district teams. The Department of Sport and the National Sport institute have encouraged and facilitated the different sport organizations in the execution of school sport and the uniforms donated will assist specifically with basketball and the inclusion of women in sport.
The Department of Sport on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport and the National Sport Institute greatly appreciates the assistance of Mrs Jansen and Ms Linger of the Rotary club who took the initiative to contact the Department, the Rotary Club – Mid Isle for their assistance and Ms van Heijningen who made the donation possible.
UK Author Jacky Rom Speaks to Mid Isle
UK author Jacky Rom paid a visit to The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle as their guest speaker.
Jacky grew up in Romford Essex and qualified as a hairdresser and makeup artist at the ‘London College of Fashion’. It had always a dream of hers to become a film director. Jacky wrote her first play when she was just 17 years old and has written and directed many plays over the years. She has spent many years in TV and film studios with her own up and coming actors before she decided to write her first book.
When Jacky turned 50 years of age in 2008 she decided to take a months’ vacation in St. Maarten. She began to wonder what she would do to occupy her time while vacationing, that’s when she decided to write a book. This turned into a series of 5 books all about the adventures of an 11-year-old detective. She enjoyed every minute of the process. Her adult crime thriller book ‘Make up to Murder’ was release in 2015, and she already has interest in Hollywood for the film rights. Jacky’s latest venture has taken place in Las Vegas where she has been filming a documentary called ‘Method of Murder’ she is currently waiting for the airing dates around the world.
After the passing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria she was feeling frustrated and helpless back in the UK and she wanted to help. She collected 400 children’s books and with the help of her local Rotary Club and Round table, the books were shipped to SXM.
When Jacky could finally get to SXM she met up with her friend Rotarian Jeff Jhangiani who had been helping the less fortunate in the community after the passing of the hurricanes. With the help from people worldwide, they have received so much to be able to help those in the community. Jacky says its been an emotional journey she has laughed, cried and wept.
