BVI News

Raven Kelly

Raven Kelly, Corporate Manager, Abacus Trust and Management Services Limited, graduated 2000

Raven Kelly has been a remarkably outstanding student all through her primary and secondary school years and even beyond. After graduating cum laude from HLSCC in 2000, she graduated magna cum laude from the University of the Virgin Islands in 2005. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Huddersfield in the United Kingdom, a programme she hopes to be able to complete by 2011-2012.

Ms. Kelly’s excellence has spilled over rather abundantly in her career as well. Starting out as an Office Clerk in 1998 at Abacus Trust and Management Services Limited, a member of the MWM Group of Companies, she has over the years worked her way up to Corporate Administrator, Senior Corporate Administrator, and Assistant Corporate Manager, and now serves as Corporate Manager.

Raven also served in the Human Resources and Business Departments at UVI while attending that institution.

Usual Place of Residence: Tortola

Education History

Althea Scatliffe Primary School, graduated with Grade I Certificate, Distinction in English, Mathematics and Social Studies, and among top five students, 1994

BVI (now Elmore Stoutt) High School, graduated with Grade I Certificate, eight subjects, High Honours, and among top ten students, 1998

HLSCC, Associate Degree in Business Administration, Finance Concentration, graduated cum laude, 2000
UVI, Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Finance Concentration, graduated magna cum laude, 2005

University of Huddersfield, UK, currently pursuing Bachelor of Laws Degree, 2008 and continuing

Employment History

Office Clerk, Human Resources Department, UVI, Spring Semester 2004
Assistant to Finance Professor/Finance Tutor, Business Department, UVI, Fall Semester 2004, Spring Semester 2005

Assistant to Director/Assistant to General In-House Counsel, Lanx Lancis, MWM Group of Companies, 2005 to 2007

Started as Office Clerk (1998 to 1999) at Abacus Trust and Management Services Limited, MWM Group of Companies, promoted to Corporate Administrator (1999-2001), promoted to Senior Corporate Administrator (2002-2003), promoted to Assistant Corporate Manager (2007-2008), and now serves as Corporate Manager, 2009 and continuing

Special Accomplishments/Memberships

University of the Virgin Islands

- Senior Female with the Highest Grade Point Average (2005)

- Business Student with the Highest Grade Point Average (2005)

- Vice President of the National Entrepreneurship Association

- Invited to become a member of Golden Key National Honour Society

- Member of the Accounting Association at UVI

British Virgin Islands High School

- Miranda Stoutt Memorial Trophy for Business (1998)

- Elmore Stoutt Trophy for Outstanding Academic Performance, Initiative and Motivation (1998)

Thoughts about the College, its role, mission, programmes and future:

When I think of HLSCC, the well-known proverb often reiterated by its founder, the late Chief Minister Hon. H. Lavity Stoutt, often springs to mind: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” HLSCC is indeed the manifestation of a once daunting and seemingly unattainable vision of a man who believed that the BVI could do better than educating the fruitage of its soil to only secondary level.

Remaining true to its mission to prepare students for entry into baccalaureate programmes of tertiary level institutions or for immediate job entry or career advancement, HLSCC offers Certificates of Higher Education and Associate Degree Programmes in a number of study areas and even Certificates of Achievement in the technical and vocational fields.

Also noteworthy are the measures taken by the institution to link “the economic and human resource development needs of the territory,” by responding directly to the need for formal training and education in areas which facilitate the development of the twin pillars of our economy, financial services and tourism, through course offerings via the Financial Services Institute and the New England Culinary Institute, now its Department of Culinary Arts, and soon coming Culinary Arts Centre.

The HLSCC we see today has no doubt made significant strides in its development since its humble beginnings in the early 1990s and I still believe the best is yet to come.  In emulation of the late visionary, I look forward to the day when this fine institution will be fully accredited to offer four-year degrees and where it is ranked by persons beyond our shores among the top universities in the world.

Thoughts about time spent at HLSCC, education received and impact on your life

As I reflect on my two years spent at HLSCC, I am reminded of the naïve young teenager who I once was. Having entered college at such a young age, I recall my intimidation of having to attend school with new faces, but motivated myself with my self-developed mantra, “It’s just like high school with harder classes.” Imagine my surprise when I embarked on an experience that was much more than that!

College life was certainly a far cry from the “blue and blue” days, where the course was all marked out for me, to an environment where I was given the tools but was left to carve my own path. My experience at HLSCC taught me that with independence comes great responsibility and, having realized this, I quickly transitioned to the thinking that whatever I wanted to achieve was based solely upon the effort I was willing to exert.

HLSCC was truly instrumental in nurturing my continuous thirst for knowledge, my drive to succeed, and my passion for excellence––characteristics which continue to permeate through all of my personal and professional goals and endeavours today. The level of education attained implanted within my psyche that “knowledge is power” and that with the right knowledge, even amidst all adversity, a little island girl can change the world!

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