BHS Alumni in US to host student conference in Guyana

The New York Tri-State Chapter of The Bishops’ High School (BHS) Alumni Association is holding its second career guidance student conference at its alma mater in Georgetown, Guyana between October 16 and 19, 2019.
The three-day conference, which will be held at the school on Carmichael Street, is titled “After Graduation – What’s Next?” Once again, the event aims to provide the school’s senior students with a unique opportunity to be exposed to a variety of perspectives on career choices, higher education, and vocational opportunities.
This year, however, the conference has expanded both in scope and reach. Alumni Chapter President Wayne Knight notes that this year the group has targeted Fifth Form students in addition to the sixth formers, the original beneficiaries of this opportunity.
“As we are cognisant that students tend to leave high school after either Fifth or Sixth Form, we wanted to make sure that regardless of when they opt to leave, we would have the chance to interact with them in a meaningful way in terms of professional guidance,” the Alumni President explained.
The conference will host for the first time a career fair and three sports clinics.
“We invited businesses to our career fair, where they will have the opportunity to speak with students and showcase their businesses, while also showing the students what career opportunities might be available to them in their organisations.  Our association will also be providing the school with sports equipment that we will utilise as we have also added sports clinics in table tennis, badminton and basketball,” Chapter President Knight related.
Students will take part in a teambuilding event and will also gain skills in CV writing and interview preparation.
The conference will begin on Wednesday, October 16 with a Welcome Assembly and registration of the students. The highlight of that day will be the Career Fair and the first sports clinic that will be held at 13:00h and 15:30h respectively.
The main events will be held on Thursday, October 17 and Friday, October 18 with concurrent presentations and workshops daily featuring 37 presenters representing a wide variety of fields of study from entrepreneurship, law, IT, medicine, culinary arts, and engineering to new areas including veterinary medicine and agriculture, energy, alcoholism and substance abuse counselling, and real estate and asset management services, to name a few.
“We hope that by providing the students with information and some of our own experiences, they will be better equipped in making decisions about their careers. We also hope in some cases to show them career paths that they may not have thought about as viable options,” said Knight.“We will be providing information about traditional and non-traditional careers, as well as many life skills that they will hopefully be able to start to cultivate now, and then continue to develop in the future.  I also hope that the conference will open their eyes to the broad spectrum of opportunities available to them,” said Chair of the Conference Planning Committee, Jo-Ann Davis-Valz. A former Head Girl of The Bishops’ High School, Davis-Valz says she is excited to be able to give back to the school that has been so pivotal in her own development.
“I am especially looking forward to meeting the other presenters as an extension of the “true comrade and true friend” relationship as reflected in the school motto.”
Current Headteacher of The Bishops’ High School, Marilyn Gibson, in looking forward to the event, said she hoped students would use the guidance given to be better able to decide where they would like to be in the next five years.
“Strive to be a (well) rounded person not just an academic student,” she advised. The Headmistress hopes that Communications, History and Foreign Languages will be among the career paths represented in the future.