Pictured from left to right are Rotaract Club of BTVI’s club advisor and Past President of Rotary Club of New Providence, Kevin Fernander and President of Zonta Club of New Providence, Yvette Ingraham.

Toastmasters International, Rotary Club of New Providence and Zonta Club of New Providence are all celebrating special milestones. Zonta Club of New Providence is celebrating 25 years of empowering women and girls, Toastmasters clubs around The Bahamas are marking the start of Toastmasters month and Rotary Club of New Providence is observing economic and community development this October. 

Amidst these exciting occasions, each organisation made it a point to invite Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) students to get involved in extracurricular activities. The special invitation was extended during BTVI’s recent student involvement fair. 

Kevin Fernander, Rotaract Club of BTVI’s club advisor and Past President of Rotary Club of New Providence, emphasised that Rotary is a global network of roughly 1.4 million individuals and joining its tertiary arm, Rotaract, has many benefits.

“Rotaract is a very vibrant club. Members participate in a lot of community service projects which are geared to Rotary’s areas of focus,” he said.

Additionally, members have free access to online, accredited professional development courses and leadership programmes. Rotary has also partnered with Toastmasters International in leadership development, professional growth and speech delivery initiatives.

Yvette Ingraham, President of Zonta Club of New Providence, underscored that Zonta embraces pillars of mentorship and advocacy but also encourages its college-level members to organise service projects related to the elderly, children, environment and other causes.

“We want to make sure you get involved in community service projects and we want you to have fun while you do the hard work, develop your leadership skills and get access to information to help you be more successful in your career and even as a BTVI student,” she said.

The student involvement fair- organised annually by BTVI’s Student Affairs Division

exposes students to an array of community service, leadership and networking opportunities. Noting a strong tie between campus involvement, community development and student achievement, the Division builds and maintains connections with civil society organisations like Toastmasters, Rotary and Zonta clubs, and provides opportunities for BTVI’s growing student population.

Other campus clubs include Student Christian Fellowship and Bahamas E-Sports Guild (BES-G), a gaming club.