Hard Work Pays Off

For approximately twelve years, the Training and Education Department of the Ministry of Tourism & Aviation (MOTA) has developed and refined its Junior Minister of Tourism Programme to encourage students to consider pursuing a career in tourism.

As a result, a select few students from high schools throughout the islands of The Bahamas take part in the annual Junior Minister of Tourism Preliminary Speech Competition in their respective islands — a contest which allows them to advance to the finals held in Nassau, New Providence. The winner of the preliminary speech completion on each island takes the title of “Junior Director of Tourism”.

This year, a total of eleven students from Grand Bahama Island took part in the preliminary speech competition and spoke on the topic, The Bahamas: A Paradise for Health & Wellness Tourism.

The preliminary competition took place at the Grand Lucayan Resort where each student confidently addressed a panel of judges on the importance of buying into the growing industry trend of Health and Wellness Tourism.

Karenda S. Swain, Assistant Manager, Training and Education, MOTA said, "Today is one of the exciting times here at the Ministry of Tourism's Training Department where we have approximately eleven high school students competing for the title of Junior Minister of Tourism."

The field of candidates was comprised of students from: St. Georges High School, Alpha Omega Academy, Bishop Michael Eldon Academy, Lucayan International School, Eight Mile Rock High School, Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Academy, St. Paul's Methodist College, Sunland Baptist Academy, Sir Jack Hayward High, and Tabernacle Baptist Academy.

"Pretty much what we do locally is have all the students from various high schools compete in a preliminary speech competition, then we head off to Nassau, New Providence to compete for the overall title of Junior Minister of Tourism," added Swain.

To compete in the annual event, the student must first be selected by a school official and complete a sourcing interview which contributes to forty percent of the student's overall score.

All interview scores are then added to the final results on the day of the speech competition.

This year, Ketora Clarke from the Eight Mile Rock High School was officially selected as the winner of the Junior Minister of Tourism Preliminary Speech Competition for Grand Bahama Island held on Tuesday, March 6th, 2018.

As she continues to train for the final competition scheduled for March 22nd, Clarke said, ""I look forward to winning in Nassau...I really love tourism and I understand how important it is, so I just want to do my part as a young person to improve this programme."

The Ministry of Tourism & Aviation would like to thank Manta Ray Beach Club for sponsoring the event.