Janelle's going to Washington

Janelle Pascall is only 18, but the responsibilities she has are tremendous. By the time you read this, she will have completed her A’ Level Examinations at the Pleasantville Senior Comprehensive School.  She will then be preparing for her greatest challenge to date, representing Trinidad and Tobago at the sixth annual Global Young Leaders Conference in Washington DC and New York City. Pascall will be among 350 outstanding scholars from around the world to attend the conference. This year’s theme is The Leaders of Tomorrow Preparing for the Global Challenges and Responsibilities of the Future, and lasts for approximately two weeks, beginning June 20 to July 31. From her home in Pleasantville, San Fernando, the quiet teen was hard at work on her presentation skills for the conference.

It was her  Principal, Nedd Mc Cree that recommended young Pascall to represent her school (and country) at the GLYC. An easy choice, especially as Pascall is also both school and class prefect and is the Student’s Representative on the Local School Board. She’s also and active member of the Students’ Advisory Counsel (and sits on their board as well). “I have to choose a world leader that I admire and find out everything I can about them,” the soft spoken Pascall explained. “I also have to familiarise myself with most Global concerns, so in preparation I am doing a lot of research on the Internet, looking at CNN and also reading TIME and Newsweek. By doing that I won’t get lost in the crowd, because there are going to be at least 80 countries represented.”  From these, students (selected at random) will be put into groups and will be presented with a hypothetical problem to solve. This will entail their representing a country in a crisis situation, be it war, famine, or flood. Situations could also include poverty, crime or weapons of mass destruction. “I think that I’ll do well; I’m not nervous at all, really,” Pascall confessed. “If I was asked about the crime situation here, I would be able to handle it. For instance, regarding the kidnapping situation, I believe that there can be more crime stoppers put into place and have more stringent measures to protect a person’s anonymity when they report a crime. People should not have to fear when reporting any sort of activity within their community.”

Pascall (who has two younger sisters), would like to become a journalist when she completes her secondary school education. “This is another reason why I am excited to attend this conference, because it will give me a chance to also interact with some of the key people in the business,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to this opportunity to learn from this trip and even grow. I’m really excited... not scared... excited.” When she’s on her study breaks, she downloads music by her favourite artiste (Nelly), but said that the music of Sade is what she studies to. She went on to talk about the youth and ways they can be made to contribute to society... no doubt she will impress those she will meet. Rest assured that Trinidad and Tobago is in capable hands at this years GLYC Conference. We wish Pascall much success.