UWI honours three BVI nationals with Pelican Award

Three British Virgin Islanders have received the highest honour from the University of the West Indies’ Alumni Association (UWIAA) chapter.

Dr Heskith Vanterpool and Queen’s Counsels Gerard Farara and Dancia Penn were bestowed with the 2018 UWIAA Open Campus Pelican Award.

The Pelican Award is given to UWI graduates who have ‘excelled in their chosen fields and have had major positive national, regional, or international impact’.

Having achieved met the criteria, the BVI trio – Vanterpool, Farara, and Penn – were honoured at a special ceremony in St Lucia recently and were among seven other UWI alumni who received the award this year.

“This speaks volumes for the outstanding contributions that our UWI-trained nationals are making locally, regionally and internationally,” said Chairwoman of the Steering Committee of the BVI UWI Alumni Association, Celia Georges.

Georges is said to be ‘leading the movement to revitalise the local Alumni Association’ and has called all UWI graduates in the BVI to join the Association.

Other awardees this year are Dr R Alford Walwyn and Dr Jillia Bird of Antigua, Dr Beverley Steele of Grenada, Dame Pearlette Louisy, Dr Veronica Simon, and Dr Didicus Jules of St Lucia, and Ms Rene Baptiste of St Vincent and the Grenadines.