Cheers of joy engulfed the audience at The Kendal G. L. Isaacs Gymnasium recently as the team from North Andros repeated their amazing feat as The Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems Centre (BNGISC) G.I.S Day 2010 Champions.
Students, judges, and patrons alike sat on the edge of their seats as the team from North Andros gave an exciting presentation on the topic, Exploring Our World and Our Environment with GIS.
The BNGIS Centre once again leads the way in ensuring Geographic Information Systems or GIS, an amazing technology, is integrated into the school system. GIS is a computer mapping system that is distinguished from other information systems in its ability to display, visualize, and analyze geographical data.
Through this technology, students from the North Andros High School team were able to identify several historical landmarks in their community, among them being the oldest church that is 160 years old and two blue holes, namely Uncle Charlie’s Blue Hole and Ocean Blue Hole. Also found was a union burial building which research showed was established in 1961.
However, the focus of their research centered on the lack of facilities for young people in North Andros to engage in sporting activities such as basketball and softball. Due to this research, they created an atlas and mapped out a prospective area where a recreational centre could be built that would most benefit the largest majority of people.
Ms. Mary Wallace, teacher at North Andros High accompanied the team to Nassau and spoke of some of the challenges they had to face. "Gathering data was difficult and some of the resources and people were not available to the students. However, I am proud of the team’s efforts despite the various challenges." She also expressed great appreciation to the B.N.G.I.S Centre for all their help and encouragement during the G.I.S competition. Ms. Wallace continues to champion the cause of GIS and has already made plans to show the winning power point presentation to her grade 10 class to get them excited about the November 2011 GIS Day competition.
Other schools competing were S.C McPherson Junior High (Competition winner in the Junior Division), Doris Johnson Senior High and C.V. Bethel Senior High along with Queens College, the latter two who placed 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Students and lecturers from the College of The Bahamas along with students from Aquinas College, enjoyed observer status with both institutions vowing to enter the competition next year.
The students and teachers lauded Ms. Antonique Sweeting, the G.I.S Education Coordinator at the BNGIS Centre for her tireless efforts in assisting each school with technical support ensuring that they were knowledgeable about the system as they planned and produced their final school community atlases for the competition.
Ms. Sweeting said that she was thrilled at the performance of students and teachers and how a few of them integrated their presentations with skits to ensure that the audience got a greater understanding of it.
Ms. Carolann Albury, Director of the Centre stated that, “The next very important step is to work with the Ministry of Education to get GIS and associated spatial technologies integrated into existing curriculum. For this to happen she said teachers, students, and policy makers at the Ministry of Education would need to support the Centre’s GIS Boot Camp Program, which seeks to empower teachers and students with modern tools and new skills to learn geography with GIS. Students and teachers alike can utilize this technology and it can have a great impact on nation building. They have been putting this technology to good use; at the Department we have lots of research data, most of which is available to the public. I congratulate all participants, judges, sponsors and to everyone involved for a job well done."
Minister of Education Mr. Desmond Bannister, also sang the praises of the students, "I commend all of the students who made presentations at the BNGIS day event, the presentations were of high quality and was relative to issues that we must address in our community, which shows that our young people are not only aware of these critical issues but they are also committed to being actively involved in the process of seeking solutions. I would like to commend in particular the team from North Andros who won for the 2nd consecutive year; they showed the desire and the wherewithal to tackle complex issues that face our society”.
Also addressing the students was the Hon. Phenton Neymour, Minister of State for Public Utilities and Mr Lionel Sands Director of Education.
Among the gifts and prizes were computers, trophies and maps which were donated by Spatial Innovison Ltd, Kingston, Jamaica, The Bahamas Telecommunication Corporation (BTC), Family Guardian Insurance Company Ltd, Micronet Ltd Bahamas, Global Business Intelligence, and The Trophy Case A Division of Nassau Plastics and other members of the corporate community all showed their support.
