ExxonMobil rewards champions of Inter-School Kayaking competition

The Linden Foundation Secondary had in May made a clean sweep of the ExxonMobil Inter-School Kayaking Competition, carting home $400,000 ahead of Harmony Secondary and 2023 Champions Kwakwani Secondary.
Aside from cash allotted as prize money for the school, team members were given another reward on Wednesday when they were treated to lunch and tours of Georgetown, ExxonMobil’s Kingston Head Office, and the National Museum, compliments of the tournament’s title sponsor.
Speaking to media operatives on the sidelines of the event, ExxonMobil Community Relations Officer Ryan Hoppie divulged that the tour had an impact on the youths’ selection of career paths.

“As ExxonMobil, we think holistically about the students that are part of these initiatives. And even as they are champions, we want them to have the experience of a lifetime: learning a bit more about the company and our operations, having a chance to ask questions about the oil and gas industry in Guyana, as well as (meeting) young professionals who are interested in sporting events like kayaking, or some of the other things that we see happening – football, basketball, etcetera, but who are also building their careers within the company to build inspiration for some of these young people now coming out of school, recently writing CXC and are looking for their next phase of development in their career,” Hoppie shared.
He added, “There are a lot of times…when we think about oil and gas as something that is just focused on engineers or scientists; but being able to come into ExxonMobil Office, being able to walk these floors and see the young professionals who are involved in accounting, dealing with risk management as well as socio-economic management, community relations, communications and media etcetera, it really giving them that opportunity to say, ‘Hey, this could be me one day, and I’m actually looking at somebody (who is) doing something that I can envision for myself’, and it’s an opportunity for them to learn about those steps, the pathways that those persons would have taken to get to where they are. And so they have that blueprint that they can work with.”
Thus far for 2023, ExxonMobil has powered the ongoing Under-14 Boys’ and Girls’ Football tournament in collaboration with the Petra Organization; the Inter-School Kayaking Competition, and the Linden U18 Boys’ Football competition.