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On 'Father Figures Day', Environment State Minister shared his journey with ninth graders at T. A . Thompson School

Thu, Mar 21st 2024, 01:19 PM
Education

State Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources the Hon. Zane Lightbourne, took time out Friday to share a snippet of his journey and a word of encouragement with students of T. A. Thompson Junior High School.

Minister Lightbourne was among a group of fathers, including other parliamentarians, who visited the school and spoke to individual classes on this day, recognized as 'Father Figures Day' at the institution.

In an interactive conversation, Minister Lightbourne shared with the students his story of growing up in Eleuthera without the use of  technology including cell phones and social media.

He asked the ninth graders to say their names, their goals and aspirations and offered them words of advice. The students were also allowed to question him.

“During the exercise you found out that everyone has dreams, aspirations. That’s the foundation for becoming an adult. You’ve established it early and all of you are very much determined. If it doesn’t happen that way or if you change your mind later, that’s fine. The important thing is that you have a dream. Your dream, your value, your desire gives you direction. You know you want to be something and you know it takes a path to get there,” he said.

He urged the students to glean from the knowledge and experiences of the adults in their lives -- mentors, family, teachers, guidance counsellors.

“All of these persons have been through what you have been through. It’s important that you take from them anything that can help you on your journey to get where you want to be. It’s not intended to be tasking, boring or routine.  Sometimes it challenges you.  It’s all intended to be very intentional.

“You are moving on to the next level -- doing BJC’s this year. That is going to determine some things about how much you got in school but it doesn’t determine everything. What determines everything is what you have in you and what you want to be. You don’t change that.”

Minister Lightbourne explained that although the world has changed the way in which people learn, think and interact, the world still has to follow basic patterns.

“The pattern the world has to follow for families is to go to school at age 5, at 16/17 leave [school] and go to college or find a career.  The process has not changed.

“I had no advantage over you and you have no advantage over me other than we learn differently. There is one basic thing that can assist you to make it an advantage -- access to information at the tip of your fingers: “Use these tools to your advantage. Information is at your fingertips. If I wanted to find out something I had to go to a library and look in books -- no computer, no internet.  You don’t have to go to a library.”

He encouraged the students to stay focused, use technology and use their teachers and mentors to their advantage.

“Nobody fumbled [when asked] what they want to be/where they want to go. You already have one goal in life; only you can stop yourself from reaching that goal,” he said.

State Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources the Hon. Zane Lightbourne, took time out Friday to share a snippet of his journey and a word of encouragement with students of T. A. Thompson Junior High School.
Minister Lightbourne was among a group of fathers, including other parliamentarians, who visited the school and spoke to individual classes on this day, recognized as 'Father Figures Day' at the institution.
 
In an interactive conversation, Minister Lightbourne shared with the students his story of growing up in Eleuthera without the use of  technology including cell phones and social media.
He asked the ninth graders to say their names, their goals and aspirations and offered them words of advice. The students were also allowed to question him.
 
“During the exercise you found out that everyone has dreams, aspirations. That’s the foundation for becoming an adult. You’ve established it early and all of you are very much determined. If it doesn’t happen that way or if you change your mind later, that’s fine. The important thing is that you have a dream. Your dream, your value, your desire gives you direction. You know you want to be something and you know it takes a path to get there,” he said.
He urged the students to glean from the knowledge and experiences of the adults in their lives -- mentors, family, teachers, guidance counsellors.
“All of these persons have been through what you have been through. It’s important that you take from them anything that can help you on your journey to get where you want to be. It’s not intended to be tasking, boring or routine.  Sometimes it challenges you.  It’s all intended to be very intentional.
“You are moving on to the next level -- doing BJC’s this year. That is going to determine some things about how much you got in school but it doesn’t determine everything. What determines everything is what you have in you and what you want to be. You don’t change that.”
Minister Lightbourne explained that although the world has changed the way in which people learn, think and interact, the world still has to follow basic patterns.
“The pattern the world has to follow for families is to go to school at age 5, at 16/17 leave [school] and go to college or find a career.  The process has not changed.
“I had no advantage over you and you have no advantage over me other than we learn differently. There is one basic thing that can assist you to make it an advantage -- access to information at the tip of your fingers: “Use these tools to your advantage. Information is at your fingertips. If I wanted to find out something I had to go to a library and look in books -- no computer, no internet.  You don’t have to go to a library.”
He encouraged the students to stay focused, use technology and use their teachers and mentors to their advantage.
“Nobody fumbled [when asked] what they want to be/where they want to go. You already have one goal in life; only you can stop yourself from reaching that goal,” he said.
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