Minister Samal Duggins celebrates 2 decades of empowering youth through scholarship program

St Kitts and Nevis: Minister of Sports and Parliamentary Representative of Constituency #4 Samal Duggins celebrated the 20th anniversary of giving back to his community through a scholarship program.

While sharing glimpses of the ceremony held over the weekend, the Minister said that the scholarship had touched many lives over the years in St Kitts and Nevis. 

He further highlighted that in 2022, this initiative was rebranded as the Samal Duggins Finding Your Passion Scholarship, which continues its mission to help young people discover and pursue their true calling.

The Minister noted that under the rebrand, the first cohort featured students like Orrin Hughes, Haley James, Anthony Pedereaux, and Kaaliyah Pereira, while Cohort 2 welcomed Imari Liburd, Darnye Williams, Najique Ford, and Treviah James.

This weekend, he was proud to welcome the newest members of cohort 3: Jaemarli Belle, Brielle Isaac, Dremar Rawlins, and J’Nyka Robins.
The ceremony also witnessed the Cohort 1 students reflecting upon how the scholarship has impacted their lives, which truly moved Minister Duggins.

“It’s rewarding to witness how much it means to them and know that this initiative can shape a person’s future by helping them find their passion. Here’s to continuing this journey of empowerment,” he outlined.

Not only this but the Minister was also seen being emotional after children gave a speech at his Finding Your Passion scholarship ceremony.

While addressing the attendees, Duggins remarked, “20 years ago, I thought of what could I do where to give back because I have a philosophy with business that I never ever spend the first income of any business on myself, which is why I started to spend it on giving back to whatever community that business serves.”

He said that it was then he decided to launch this scholarship program after a number of successful businesses. 

Duggins said that the journey had its ups and downs but one of the things which moved him most was the idea that most of the young men and women that end up doing nothing because of financial issues and this scholarship gave vision to so many young children and pushed them to make a name for themselves.