Caribbean Life, December 20-26, 2019 37
Alliance Scholarship Awards
By Nelson A. King
Trinidad and Tobago’s New York Consul
General, J. André Laveau has saluted
the Brooklyn-based Trinidad and Tobago
Alliance (North America), Inc., applauding
the group’s “efforts and successes in
the education of many young people for
development.”
“You continue to make a sterling contribution
to the preparation of the citizens,
future committed servants and friends of
greater Trinidad and Tobago that is territorial
and Diasporic,” said Laveau in delivering
the keynote address Sunday during
the Alliance’s 43rd Annual Scholarship
Awards Luncheon at El Caribe Country
Club in Brooklyn.
“There can hardly be a greater investment
by a Diaspora organization in the
evolution of its own country and its
adopted community,” he added, invoking
the words of one of America’s founding
fathers, Benjamin Franklin: “An investment
in knowledge pays the best interest”.
In a richly endowed educational environment,
such as North America, Laveau
said the Trinidad and Tobago Consulate
General has “its role to play in supporting
the acquisition of world class skills
and capacities to drive our nations
advance.”
“The vigorous pursuit of economic
diversification, of which the bedrock is
the development of ideas and innovation,
squarely depends on this,” he said.
Trinidad and Tobago Consul General
to New York, J. Andre Laveau delivers
keynote address.
Photo by Nelson A. King
The consul general said the partnership
between the Alliance and the Consulate
General will, therefore, “surely endure
as long as we exploit synergies in providing
the means for students of the Trinidad
and Tobago Diaspora to carve their space
and leave their mark on the limitless landscape
of human endeavor.”
In extending congratulations to this
year’s awardees, Laveau urged them to
“dream big, always pursue solutions; and,
in the words of Mahatma Ghandi, ‘Learn,
as if you will live forever.’”