NCU ALUMNI CHAPTER CAYMAN (ACKy)

17 August 2015

The Cayman chapter of the Alumni Association of Northern Caribbean University (NCU) launched its website Monday (17 August, 2015). Targeting not only alumni but also all friends and supporters of NCU, the website, www.NCUCaymanAlumni.com , is intended to play a key role in coordinating the chapter’s initiatives.

The website enables prospective members to sign-up; keep abreast of what is taking place in the local chapter and at Northern Caribbean University; make donations; and link to other Adventist entities.

Located in Mandeville, Jamaica, NCU is owned jointly by the Adventist (SDA) churches in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, and The Turks and Caicos Islands, 

The Cayman chapter of the Alumni Association of Northern Caribbean University re-launched on 18 June with the aim of contributing significantly to the Cayman community, among other goals.  The local chapter’s coordinating effort continues later this month when another general meeting takes place, on Thursday, 27 August, at the Cayman Academy Hall (adjacent to the SDA Conference Offices, off Walkers Road).  All interested persons are invited to the meeting that starts with a social networking hour at 6:30 pm.

NCU itself, which celebrated its hundredth birthday in 2007, places much emphasis on contributing to the strengthening of the social fabric of communities served by the university. 

The local alumni chapter aims to take advantage of these and other tools available through NCU.  “Our vision is that NCU’s social intervention programmes can be adapted to help support families and persons at risk in our own communities.  This will be an opportunity for NCU alumni to give back to our communities at home in Cayman,” explained Patricia Ebanks, president of the local chapter of the Alumni Association.

The Education Secretary for the Cayman Islands Conference of Seventh-day Adventist, Dr. Ivor Harry, agrees: “Through sponsorships of programmes available from the alma mater, the Cayman Chapter of the Alumni Association will offer an avenue for NCU graduates to make an important and needed contribution to the Cayman community.”

Among such available programmes is the Empowerment Training Project launched in 2010 by the university’s Community Counselling and Restorative Justice Centre (CCRJ).  The aims of the CCRJ’s Empowerment Training Project include supporting and training parents in their quest to achieve stronger, more supportive, responsible family environments; reducing teenage pregnancies and abuse, and neglect of children and youth; and fostering a stronger sense of self and commitment towards self-development among targets. 

“The proven track record of the Empowerment Training Project in achieving positive results in Jamaica’s schools and communities has created a demand for the programme in Jamaica and elsewhere, and we believe that it can have a similar impact here,” Pastor Harry says.

In addition to spearheading such social intervention programmes, the association aims ultimately to grant scholarships to Adventist youth to attend NCU, and to otherwise support the well-being of the alma mater.  Another key goal will be to offer opportunities for the educational, social, cultural and spiritual development of members of the local alumni chapter.

The Adventist church in the Cayman Islands is one of the fastest growing, with a membership of some 5,000.

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