The title of All-Bahamas Merit Scholar is one of the most coveted out there and is awarded to the single most promising Bahamian high school graduate accepted to a demanding college. The scholarship is worth up to $140,000 over four years of study. The winner, who will be selected from amongst the applicants who applied for consideration for the award, will be made public tomorrow.
The 2013 All-Bahamas Merit Scholarship went to Queen's College graduate Shannon Butler, who is matriculating at the University of St. Andrew's in Scotland. He aspires to become a cardiothoracic surgeon.
The All-Bahamas Merit Scholarship is tenable at The College of The Bahamas or an accredited university or college in the Caribbean, United States of America, United Kingdom or Canada. It is awarded to the applicant who has demonstrated exceptional academic ability and excellence in co-curricular activities and been accepted to an academically prestigious college or university. The winning applicant also has to have a strong ethos of public service, possess an unwavering dedication to improving the lives of all Bahamians and demonstrated a strong moral character and the potential to lead.
According to the criteria for selection, the ideal All-Bahamas Merit Scholar serves in an ambassadorial role for The Bahamas and is expected to contribute to the overall development of the country by providing service and applying his or her talents and knowledge to improving the lives of other Bahamians.
Prior to Butler, past winners of the All-Bahamas Merit Award and the universities they attended were: Shireen Denise Donaldson (1993, Johns Hopkins University), Damian Forbes (1995, Yale University), Rhys Powell (1996, MIT), Jehan Unwala (1997, Tufts University), Damian Archer (1998, University of Western Ontario, UWI Mona Campus), Ryan Knowles (1999, Boston University), Ricardo Davis (2000, Queen's University, Canada), Peter Blair (2002, Duke University), Sebastian Hutchinson (2003, University of Pennsylvania), Sharelle Ferguson (2004, Harvard), Andrea Culmer (2005, McGill University, Canada), Kyle Chea (2006, Vassar College), Lisa Rodgers (2007, Brown University), Genymphas Higgs (2008, Drexel University), Jenna Chaplin (2009, University of The Pacific), Clifford Bowe (2010, Georgia Institute of Technology), Jamia Boss (2011, College of St. Benedict) and Theophilus Moss (2012, Johns Hopkins University).
The fields of study for past All-Bahamas Merit recipients included accounting and finance, biochemistry, physics and mathematics, social studies, chemistry, history and Chinese, education and human biology, biomedical engineering, visual arts, mechanical engineering and pre-medicine and Spanish.
Just who will emerge the 2014 All-Bahamas Merit Scholar is still a wait-and-see game, as no one outside the selection committee knows the successful applicant or even how many individuals have applied for the award. The scholarship selection process is kept tightly under wraps until the day the All-Bahamas Merit Scholar is named. Applicants are given no indication of their competitors' identities. However, to be considered for the scholarship, applicants must be under 20 with minimum GPAs of 3.50 at the end of the fall term; they must also have sat a minimum of seven Bahamas General Certificates of Secondary Education (BGCSE) examinations including English language and math, prior to the time of application and applied to an accredited college or university.
The selection committee scrutinizes the applicants' academic merits, which involve GPA, BGCSE grades, test scores including the SAT, advanced placement (AP) courses, enrollment in the International Baccalaureate (IB), academic honors, awards and recommendations.
But it's not all academics when it comes to determining the winner. The committee also looks at the quality and reputation of an applicant's proposed college or university as well as his or her contributions to school and community. The candidate's personal qualities, including leadership skills, maturity, independence, sense of direction, motivation, self-expression and enthusiasm are taken into account.
The All-Bahamas Merit Scholarship is a collaborative effort of The Bahamas Ministry of Education, the Lyford Cay Foundation, Inc. and The Central Bank of The Bahamas. The recipient has to maintain a 3.25 cumulative GPA or equivalent in the first year of study and a minimum of 3.50 cumulative GPA or equivalent in each subsequent year. All-Bahamas Merit Scholars are also required to complete a minimum of 25 hours of volunteer service to projects of their choice annually.
Other scholarships to be awarded include the National Academic Scholarship (up to $10,000 annually for specific courses of study); The National Technical Scholarship (up to $10,000 annually for specific courses of study) and the National Grant (a single year award of up to $7,500 to complete a course of study currently being pursued).

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