Since Monday of this week, the Community Policing Unit of the Belize Police Department has been placing exemplary high school students in the spotlight for laudable work that they have been doing within their respective schools and/or communities, and today a student of Edward P. Yorke High School in Belize City was recognized as being a role model for his fellow students, in part due to his stellar performance in school.
Each high school in the city submitted a list of candidates to the “Do di rait ting” program committee, and Kenbert Staine, 15, a third form student at E.P. Yorke High School, was chosen as one of the awardees due to his academic and social accomplishments.
When Amandala spoke to Staine after the award ceremony, he was elated but at the same time grateful to be honored as part of the “Do di rait ting” program for his school.
He said, “At first I was shocked; I didn’t really believe I would win, but nevertheless I’m proud of myself and my achievement and I just want to thank people for the support.”
Staine also told us about the challenges that he had to overcome within his community in order to stay focused and excel in school.
“In my community, there are usually a lot of negative things and setbacks, especially where I live on the Southside, so I want to break the stigma against young men like myself”, he mentioned.
The General Studies student conceded that although it is often difficult to keep away from negative influences, he was able to overcome through support from friends and relatives.
Staine then provided advice for other youth like himself who would want to ‘do the right thing’ but may not have the motivation to do so.
“Just to stay positive and make the most of your opportunities – it may seem difficult, but taking the high road sometimes is the best way to go and I just want to tell them to overcome and beat the odds because there’s a lot”, he recommended.
Sergeant Elroy Carcamo, who heads the Community Policing Unit, said that Staine was selected for the “Do di rait ting” program for the month of March 2014 by Precinct 4 after the Officers in Charge (of Precinct 4) along with the “Do di rait ting” committee members sat down, went through the nominee files for 5 high schools within the area, and decided that he was most appropriate student for the award.
Carcamo then outlined what are the characteristics that they look for, and what would qualify a student to be recognized as an awardee.
He explained, “When it comes to the ‘Do di rait ting’ program, we look at the child’s behavior, or we look at how they have turned around their behavior. We look at their academic achievement because some of them were failing very badly and they managed to turn around [their grades] and are now on honor roll and so forth. We also look at community service because we want them to understand that nothing comes free, and we want to know that they are out there assisting their communities. We look at if they come from single parent families and also at the area where they come from. We take that into consideration because some of the kids in Belize City come from very poor areas, so we look at all these things and the one that best fits is the one that is chosen.”
As to how the program helps to curb crime and its negative effects, Sgt. Carcamo responded, “We recognize our students because it is not every time that we want to see youths on the news because of crime and other offenses. They can be in the news for doing the right thing – going out there and assisting themselves and their communities, so it is an incentive to reduce crime within the area.”
Staine will now be entered into the national selection which will be held in July, at which point the Community Policing Unit will choose the top 10 winners for this year from among all the nominees from the different precincts across the country.
On Monday, Rasha Dawson of Gwen Lizarraga High School and Siian Rancharan of Saint John’s College were both awarded by the “Do di rait ting” program for their outstanding performances and exemplary behavior in school.