The Job Link Up Programme completed its fifth cycle and celebrated it with a Graduation Ceremony held at Da’Vida’s Restaurant on 20 February. Twenty- two young adults underwent six months of intense training and gained employment at JW Proctors, Dolphin Discoveries, Anguilla Fire and Rescue Services and other places.
The opening remarks by Director of Department of Youth and Culture, Mr. Bren Romney, encompassed the theme of the graduation: the fulfillment of dreams. Mr. Bren Romney remarked, “The founder of one of the world’s most successful companies said, ‘The individual that wants to reach the top must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him, and hasten to adopt those habits that will help him achieve those dreams that he desires.”’
The Job Link Up Programme imparts job development and social skills to its participants and helps young adults strive for higher heights. The programme continues its expansion this year with procurement from the Caribbean Development Bank and Anguillan Government thus adding a sixth cycle, launched this year, with twenty new young adults – as well as a seventh cycle mid year for a total of forty new people.
Certificates were distributed to the graduates and to companies involved in providing employment opportunities for the programme over the years. The Department of Youth and Culture looks forward to the completion of the next cycles.
A demonstration by Mr. Ivan Connor, about surrounding yourself with the right people in order to complete your dreams, was in keeping with the feature address. Mr. Connor asked one of the graduates to come forward and stand on a partly inflated blue yoga ball without falling, which the graduate deemed as being impossible. Mr. Connor then asked members of the audience to come up and surround the yoga ball, thereby stabilizing it which made it possible for the young man to complete the task at hand – showing the strength of working together as a unit rather than on your own.
Mr Connor added: “Often times we forget that we have to surround ourselves with the right people, but if you have someone that is willing to go before, stand beside you, and go behind you, then your world becomes even more stable. Don’t take for granted the time, the energy, the money that people have placed in your lives. Why? Because, as a nation, as a community we are all interrelated, interdependent, and mutually vulnerable.”
Article by Josharmond McKinson-Romney
