One St. Thomas resident has received a $48,000 one-year scholarship to one of America's top universities while another has been selected as a finalist in a regional essay contest, the Department of Tourism announced Monday.
Linette Ann Rabsatt, a graduate of the University of the Virgin Islands, has been chosen as the 1999 recipient of the Audrey Palmer Hawks-American Express Memorial Scholarship, which will fund a one-year specialized business and tourism course of study at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
Rabsatt is currently an employee of Austin Advertising.
"I am very grateful and glad for the opportunity to represent the U.S Virgin Islands and the Caribbean as a whole," she said in a statement released by the Department of Tourism Monday.
The course will be followed by a six-month internship with the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the American Express Publishing Company.
The scholarship was set up to encourage Caribbean citizens to follow careers in the tourism industry.
The other distinguished Virgin Islander is 12-year-old Winsome Nisbett, a Peace Corps Elementary student who has been selected as the territory's finalist in the 1999 "My Caribbean" Essay contest.
The contest is sponsored by Conde Nast Traveler magazine, American Airlines, the Caribbean Tourism Organization and V.I. Department of Tourism.
This year's theme, "My Caribbean: My Island, Our Future . . . Making the 21st Century a Better Place to Be," asked students to describe what makes their homeland a better place, and pick one they wish to preserve or improve upon in the next century.
In her essay, Nisbett wrote about the importance of being hospitable and courteous to family, friends and visitors in the next century.
Nisbett and a chaperon will receive an all-expense paid trip to the Caribbean Tourism Organizations annual conference in the Dominican Republic later this year. The winner of the contest will receive $2,000 and have their essay published an issue of Conde Nast Traveler
Editors'note: For the full text of Nisbett's essay and all the other St. Thomas semi finalists go to Community/other stuff.
For the full text of the St. Croix semi finalist's essays go to St. Croix Source and check out the Community/other stuff section.