Kidjo Performs at Reichhold Center Feb. 25

Angelique Kidjo, one of the greatest forces in World music, will perform at UVI’s Reichhold Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25. A native of Benin, Kidjo's music is steeped in the tribal and pop rhythms of her West African heritage. Her earthy voice spans musical boundaries, blending funk, salsa, jazz, rumba, makossa and souk. She has 11 albums to her name. More information and tickets are available from the Reichhold Center website – http://www.reichholdcenter.com/.

Innovative Awards UVICELL $26,000 for Territorial SAT Prep Program

UVI’s Dionne V. Jackson, left, and Ilene Garner, right,
accept a check from Innovative’s Jennifer Matarangas-King.

Ky’Jahna Gerard and De’Moi Lettsome
are participants in SAT Prep Course.

Innovative presented a $26,600 check to the University of the Virgin Islands - Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning Center (UVICELL) on Feb. 14, 2012, to fund the Innovative SAT Prep Program. The program provides 40 public high school students in the U.S. Virgin Islands with instruction and materials to prepare them for the SAT Test, which is used for college admission.

“We are extremely delighted that Innovative has once again sponsored the SAT Prep Program,” said UVICELL Director, Ilene Garner.

Now in its eighth year, the three-year program assists college bound students who want to improve their SAT scores. The program is unique in that it tracks the progress of students from their freshman through senior years.  Using a variety of educational tools and mock exams, the program assists students in reducing testing anxiety, building confidence and improving their test-taking ability. The program boasts an average increase in overall scores of about 10 percent each year. 

“Innovative is committed to education, literacy and programs that augment our educational system,” said Innovative Vice President for Public Relations and Governmental Affairs Jennifer Matarangas-King. “We are very proud that we have been able to fund such a successful program. We are pleased that over 300 students have participated in the initiative over the last seven years.”

Once basic requirements are met, students can enroll in the course at no charge.   The next series of courses will begin on March 10, 2012, however interested students must register by Friday, Feb. 17, 2012 to be considered for the program. 

Applications are available http://cell.uvi.edu or from each public high school’s Guidance Counselor.

CES Marking 40th Anniversary During Agrifest 2012

Official 2012 Poster

The 2012 edition of the Agriculture and Food Fair of the U.S. Virgin Islands - Agrifest - takes place from Feb. 18 to 20, on the grounds of the Rudolph Shulterbrandt Agricultural Complex in Estate Lower Love on St. Croix. Agrifest is sponsored by the V.I. Department of Agriculture, the University of the Virgin Islands Cooperative Extension Service – which is marking its 40th anniversary – and the V.I. Department of Tourism. More information, contest details and entertainment schedules are available from the 2012 V.I. Agrifest website - http://www.viagrifest.org/.

MAN UP, Real Men Talking Reach out to V.I. Youth

Actors, from left Roderick Slocum, Josef Mitchell, Anthony Heard, Mark Simmons and Kamal Bostic Smith presented the multi-media stage play Real Men Talking for four different audiences at Man Up male empowerment conferences held at UVI on St. Croix and St. Thomas this week.

For the second consecutive year thousands of grade school and high school age youg men converged on UVI's campuses for MAN UP male empowerment conferences held on Feb. 7, on St. Croix, and Feb. 9, on St. Thomas. An addition to this year's youth-oriented programs, evening conferences were held in both locations for adult men and community members.

Click any image to view full size.


MAN UP St. Croix

The main attraction for MAN UP 2012 was the multi-media stage play Real Men Talking, featuring a cast of professional actors - five African American men spending an evening talking and arguing and sometimes celebrating the challenges, fears and struggles they face on the path to becoming real men. The show was directed by Flemuel Brown III, who co-wrote the production with executive producer Marlon Smith.


MAN UP St. Croix

The conferences were followed, on Feb. 8 and 10, with "Living With Purpose" professional development training sessions for community leaders, parents, mentors and others working directly with young people in the community.

MAN UP St. Thomas

16 Join Brothers With A Cause on St. Thomas

BWC members take the “Manhood Pledge” at the installation ceremony. Click to enlarge.

On UVI’s St. Thomas campus, 16 male students took the “Manhood Pledge” as they were installed into the University’s Male Initiative Brothers With A Cause (BWC), on Feb. 3, 2012. With chapters on both campuses, BWC’s goal is to attract more male students to the University and provide tools and support to help them graduate.

President Hall pins BWC
member Heath George.

Basil C. Ottley, Jr. of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs was the keynote speaker. Ottley’s message chronicled his struggles with his post-secondary education. After graduating as salutatorian from Antilles School in 1984, he received a full-scholarship to an institution on the U.S. mainland, where as a Black man, he was confronted with challenges that had nothing to do with scholarship, he said.  No one understood his struggle, he said, noting that BWC members should never experience that feeling of isolation.

“You here are developing a fellowship of brotherhood,” he said. Ottley’s driving point was encouraging the young men not to pick up unnecessary baggage which he described as drug use, criminal activity and unintentionally becoming fathers. “The more baggage you pick up along the way, the more difficult it becomes to carry and it strikes out possibilities and options,” he said. Ottley told the young men to make the best possible choices.

Speaker Basil Ottley, Jr.

“Choices along the way can severely limit your opportunities that you may not be aware of today.” He ended with a passage by Virgin Islander Hubert Harrison, a writer, educator and political activist who is said to be a founder of the Harlem Renaissance.

In his remarks UVI President Dr. David Hall said that bright, strong and committed young men will make a difference in the territory. “What you are embracing is a commitment to leadership, a commitment to service and a commitment to do your best,” Dr. Hall told the young men.

VI Senate President Ronald Russell also offered remarks.

Second Annual Man Up Male Empowerment Conferences Set at UVI

Virgin Islands men are invited to participate in the second annual Man Up Male Empowerment Conference slated at UVI's campuses on St. Croix and St. Thomas on Feb. 7 and 9, respectively. Sessions are planned from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for junior high and high school aged men, and from 5 to 9:30 p.m. for adults. The theme is "Realize your Potential – Celebrating Responsible Manhood."
Details and a registration form are available from the UVI website – http://www.uvi.edu/.

Angelina Ballerina: The Musical

UVI’s Reichhold Center for the Arts continues its 2012 productions with a performance of "Angelina Ballerina: The Musical" at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21. The production is a whimsical musical based on the popular PBS show Angelina Ballerina, as well as the popular children's book series. Watch as Angelina and friends try to impress a school visitor with various forms of dance, from hip-hop to modern dance and of course ballet.

Visit the Reichhold Center website – http://www.reichholdcenter.com/ – to buy tickets or for more information.

UVI Launches Center for Student Success

Students attend the launch of UVI’s Center for Student for Success

CSS Executive Director Dr. Eustace Esdaille

Students packed the main conference room in UVI's Administration and Conference Center on St. Thomas for the launch of the University's Center for Student Success (CSS) on Thursday, Jan. 12. The center's mission is to foster a social and academic environment that stimulates UVI students to take full responsibility for their learning and to persist toward graduation in a timely manner. A similar launch of the CSS effort on the Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix is slated for Wednesday, Jan. 18.

Pastor Reginald Perry

CSS Executive Director Dr. Eustace Esdaille said students were "challenged to embrace all the opportunities that the University, the new center and CATS (UVI's Campus Advising Services) have to offer." That message was also shared by keynote speaker Pastor Reginald Perry, of the Victorious Believers Ministries on St. Croix. Pastor Perry stressed that despite the obstacles that life throws that "at the end, with persistence, there is success."

UVI sophomore, pre-med major Shaniqua Ostalaza spoke about her experience with the new center. Tamisha Liburd, Miss Caribbean U.S., offered a musical presentation.

The Center for Student Success will work with all other units and service providers - especially Student Affairs and Financial Aid - at UVI to ensure that students are challenged to attain academic, personal and professional success.

In addition to the executive director, the center staff includes Andrea Dorsey as interim administrative assistant and two program specialists on each campus. Program specialists on St. Croix are Sherrayn Garcia and David Capriola. St. Thomas is served by program specialists Jacinthe Proctor and Kaeche Liburd. UVI's CATS center is under the direction of Dr. Angela McGhee. For more information, contact the CSS Office on St. Thomas at (340) 693-1583 or David Capriola on St. Croix at (340) 692-4156. The CSS office is located in Room 204 of the Sports & Fitness Center on St. Thomas. On St. Croix visit Evans Center Room 723.

Alumni Join Effort to Develop New Strategic Plan



St. Thomas - click to view larger pic

 UVI alumni and special alumni joined the effort to develop the University's next strategic plan in sessions held Dec. 7 and 8, on St Croix and St. Thomas, respectively. Sixteen alumni on St. Croix and another 15 on St. Thomas gathered to provide input into the process. Their suggestions will be added to those offered by students, faculty, and staff who have already attended similar, wide-ranging sessions designed to develop a series of common themes on which the next strategic plan will be based.



St. Croix - click to view larger pic

 Input has also been received from the Board of Trustees. The effort is organized by the University’s Planning Task Force (PTF). The PTF will develop a draft strategic plan which will be presented to the University's formal shared governance process prior to being submitted to Planning Committee of the Board and the full Board of Trustees for approval in June 2011. The new strategic plan will be launched in the fall of 2012.



St. Thomas - click to view larger pic



Participating in the alumni session on St. Croix were Malkia Morton (’11), Darlene Baptiste (’98), Cassandra Dunn (’87), B. Patricia Welcome (’87), Wendy Wheeler (’01, ’03, ’05), Benon Kisuule (faculty), Ellsworth London (’10, ’12), Beresford Edwards (’96), Wayne E. Petersen (’09), Prospero Lewis (’74, ’84), Nissa Bailey (’04), Ann-Merrie Hendrickson (’10), Shelly Anslyn Jones (’08), Abdul R. Ali (’10), Sammuel Sanes (’09) and Marthious Clavier (’09).




St. Croix - click to view larger pic



St. Thomas - click to view larger pic





Participating in the alumni session on St. Thomas were Basil Ottley (’94), Jacqueline A. Sprauve (’94), Delaun Mercer (’97), Deanna E. Rogers (’85), Alyssa Ryan (’11), Rick S. Grant (’09), Joss Springette (’00), Allie-Allison Petrus (’01), Beverly Petrus (SA), Verna Rivers (’88), Mariga R. Fleming (’68), Joel J. Buchanan (’93), Denise Humphrey (SA), Claudette Georges (’86, ’88, ’94, ’04, ’06) and Carla Sarauw (’89). SA = Special Alumni 


 

St. Thomas - click to view larger pic



“O Christmas Three!” Performances Set Today (Dec. 1) at UVI on St. Thomas Campus

UVI Theatre entertained students at four area grade schools – part of the group is shown above at E. Benjamin Oliver Grade School – this week with performances from the children’s holiday musical “O Christmas Three!” The musical, written and directed by UVI Playwright-in-Residence Dr. Doug Larche, features more than 40 UVI students, faculty and staff members. It consists of a trilogy of children’s Christmas plays published by Dramatic Publishing and performed originally across the U.S. and Canada.

The trilogy consists of “Peas on Earth: A Birds-Eye View of Christmas,” “Dorcas the Christmas Duck (Or Vincent the Violet-Nosed Vulture) A Cautionary Christmas Tale” and “The Last Straw: A Christmas Fable.”


Two performances of the full trilogy are set for today – Thursday, Dec. 1 – at the UVI Administration and Conference Center on the St. Thomas campus. Those shows are set for 4 and 7:30 p.m. Admission is free for children and students of all ages. Adult admission is $10.

Cast members, from left, for “Dorcas the Christmas Duck,” “Peas on Earth” and “The Last Straw.”