Kishawna Bell happy about MSTVET scholarship

Kishawna Bell of Caribbean Maritime University is happy to receive the Mathematics, Science and TVET Scholarship from the Ministry of Youth and Education. The 22-year-old said when September started, she did not know how she would pay her school fees and accommodation. The scholarship covers tuition, auxiliary fees, and boarding while providing a book and maintenance grant, and was awarded based on Bell’s academic performance and interview.  Bell is a fourth-year student, who is studying Industrial Systems Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Technology.

“Prior to doing CSEC, I was thrown out of my mothers’ place, then you know my two guardians: my aunt and my grandmother, took me up as an additional responsibility. It was very sudden,” said Bell. She added that it was not possible for her guardians to pay for tertiary education after funding the rest of her high school education.

Even though Bell funded her education using the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) for three years, she did not want to use SLB to fund another academic year because she was performing well. “So me a seh at least now is the time, you know, me can get a likkle scholarship. One less hassle, one less year of me paying student loans,” said Bell. She said it would lighten the financial burden on her future self and guardian.

Bell said her father was not a major part of her life until the latter part of high school. Her grandmother and aunt covered her auxiliary and accommodation fees, while her father assisted with accommodation in her third year of university.

Bell’s aunt, Simone Bartley, who is also her guardian says Kishawna is her ‘second child’. “Faith would have it that after some disagreement in her family life after her mom came back, she became my responsibility where I had to finance her education, meals, living arrangements,” said Bartley.

“She has always been focused.  She is very good at working on her own initiative,” said Bartley. She added that her niece did not tell her about the scholarship until after she was granted an interview. “She didn’t really ask me for permission, she just ran with the idea of wanting better for herself and that is what I admire about her,” said Bartley as she described Bell as a ‘go-getter’.

Belle’s best friend Jessi-Ann Wint said, “As a student, Kishawna is very hard working. She’s hard-working to the point where it’s inspiring,”. Wint says her friend is determined to do well at academics.

“Kish shared with me that she wouldn’t leave university without getting a scholarship,” said Wint.

Close friend Courtney Burgess describes the scholarship as the “fruits of her labour that have finally just come to repay her all that work”.