AS part of Point Fortin’s Finest Leadership Development Programme, 20 future young leaders from the area and surrounding communities were "given access" to some of the complex principles of robotics and automated systems and also the graceful paintbrush techniques of modern art.
The occasion was a field trip for the annual vacation camp for junior members of the programme – an initiative sponsored by Atlantic. The trip took the youngsters to the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) for a lecture by ProfPrakash Persad, head of the Mechatronics Department; and then to the Love U Art Studio, for a relaxing practical session with artist Salima Edwards.
Marlon Grant, team lead, explained the vacation camp theme highlighted technology and its complete integration into modern-day life, along with the camp's usual agenda of sessions in life skills, stress management and recreational activities.
“At Atlantic, we want the Point Fortin's Finest students to be exposed to some of the careers and opportunities available in science and technology, and we also want to help build their competence as prospective entrepreneurs,” Grant said in a media release. “This would be in addition to the other things they will be learning on the vacation camp and indeed on the wider programme about how to be better students and better leaders.”
At the UTT visit, the students paid keen attention to Persad’s description of the evolution of technology and its benefits to society.
“The computing power in your smart phones in your pockets is more computing power than NASA had when they sent the Apollo to the moon,” Persad told the future leaders. “It gives you an idea of how technology has changed.”
At the Love U Art Studio, Edwards taught the students how art could also be used as a relaxation technique after the stress of exams. Putting this theory into practice, the young leaders learned how to paint by trying to duplicate a painting titled Relaxation.