And the winner is . . .

It was a long time ago. I was probably fourteen years old; a freshman in high school. I don’t remember what made me walk into that room. I wasn’t aware of much that was happening in my high school beyond the boys and parties. I must have seen a flyer around campus. It makes sense that I would be interested.

From a young age I strived to be a secretary, unaware of any potential beyond that. Choices for girls were limited. Only one choice was expected: to get married and have children. I was taught that girls went to college to find a suitable husband. I secretly wanted a career, but didn’t dare tell anyone.

My father was well connected. When I graduated from high school I was given choices based on my father’s ability to find employment for me: become an actress...hardly; an airline hostess...I'm too short; get a free ride at the University of the Pacific...I don't think so; work in accounts payable at my dad’s company for minimum wage, driving over an hour each way to and from work in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Ah, that's the one! I saw it as the pathway to my ultimate destination; to become a secretary just like Susie on the television program Private Secretary. I wanted to work for a man just like the one she worked for – Mr. Sands. Susie was so sophisticated. She wore pretty hats and gloves that she shopped for during her lunch hour.

So, having chosen this lofty goal, it doesn’t surprise me that I walked into a classroom after school to join Junior Achievement, an organization designed to teach business to students. We set up a company and I was appointed the Finance Officer. We sold stock and made candles for the holiday season. My father had yet another item to drag to work and peddle to unsuspecting victims as retaliation for the things dad bought over the years from their children.

During the 2008-2009 school year in Saint Lucia, I have been working on the other end of Junior Achievement . . . facilitating the children in the Village Secondary School to learn business practices and hustle their Junior Achievement goods upon students, teachers and other unsuspecting bystanders.

Elaine, my friend and fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, is here to help develop Junior Achievement as a sustainable activity to teach children business skills. She recruited me and other volunteers to help her with individual schools while she worked the larger island program. The semester is coming to an end and the businesses that were created are being dissolved. Stockholders are reaping the profits from their original investment of $5EC per share. The financial records have been completed and submitted.

As Elaine takes a deep breath children from all over the island are arriving in buses to attend a celebration that recognizes the schools that have achieved the best in profit, records keeping, company of the year and highest achiever…as well as the big one the Governor General’s Award for Innovation, Creativity and Originality. There were plenty of dignitaries to recognize and support the children. And there was entertainment; The Trio Brothers, a group of three boys from one of the schools performed.

My girls patiently awaited the winning announcements. We didn’t win the big one and certainly didn’t win for most profit, not when our profit was only $1.20EC per share. No, we didn’t get recognized for company of the year either. Our student didn’t get highest achiever, and we didn’t get first or second place for records keeping. Then they announced third place Records Keeping; and the winner is . . .

We proudly posed at the front of the room with trophy in hand whispering "good job" to one another. That winds up another project on the island. As we walked out of the building towards the bus, Mrs. Sami, the teacher I helped, declared next year our goal is to get the big trophy!