*Name: Cameron P O Sobers

*Years attended HC: 1980-1987

*House: Armstrong

*Current occupation: Full time harried father of two teen girls, part time banker. I have been in banking far longer than I care to remember and I have worked in or supported pretty much every sphere of the enterprise. I am currently a Project Manager with RBC and this keeps me pretty busy

*Current position/role within the OHS: President

*Goal/mission/reason for joining the OHS: As with so many Harrisonians, I had absolutely no drive or compulsion to be involved with anything Harrison College. Aside from attending a few social activities planned for my year group, I saw HC and by extension the OHS as things separate and apart with no room for my involvement. The advent of social media interaction is where I first started to see that I was not alone. In those early turn of the century days we had an MSN based portal where we could go to and interact with other Harrisonians. I soon realised there were so many Kolijeans like me who felt “apart” but still wanted to communicate. This type of interaction even led me to seek out other Harrisonians in my work place and we had a group where we shared information on any HC social activity. After leaving HC in 1987, it took me 21 years before I ever set foot in there again and this is when I attended the 275 Anniversary Dinner held on the school grounds. Still the OHS seemed not for me. It was only through prompting from Maria Nicholls and Karen Kirton that I was encouraged to attend an AGM the following year. Right after this Junior Browne drafted me in to work on the Membership thrust for the OHS based on the level of interest we had started to build among Kolijeans at large. As the story goes, the rest is history. From Membership Chair to Council Member to Junior VP Lots of work still to be done. Achievements (including with the OHS): • Two teen daughters and maintaining my sanity • Immediate Past President of the Progressive Optimist Club which has spearheaded such initiatives as support for children dealing with cancer, providing free or low cost vision care to primary aged children and outfitting deserving children for the start of the school year. • Seeing the first female President of the OHS elected • Seeing the OHS community grow from a small group of less than 250 to close to 3000 interested persons, who have ready access to the activities and plans of the OHS

 

Ms. Juanita Wade became the Principal of Harrison College in 2014 following 24 years at The Alleyne School in Belleplaine, St Andrew, four years as an Education Officer (2006-2010) and four as Deputy Principal of Queen’s College. A former winner of the

CLICO/Nation Ministry of Education Teacher of the Year, Ms. Wade holds a first degree in English with History; a Diploma in Education and a Masters in Education)

Renee enjoyed 7 years at Harrison College between ’95 and ’02. After leaving, she pursued degrees in Geomatics and Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing, from the University of the West Indies and the University of Greenwich, respectively.
She was first invited to volunteer with the OHS in 2012, where she helped with the planning for Founders Week 2013. During this and subsequent Founders Weeks, she has been instrumental in working with the planning committees and managing the bars for the After Work Limes and the House Parties.
A keen and motivated individual, Renee aims to help the OHS with its mandate of providing for the students, staff and school.

Nailah Robinson (86-93) has served on the Council for the past 14 years variously as Web Manager, Member and Secretary.

After 10 years as a Computer Programmer, she completed her legal studies and was called to the Bar in 2010. Nailah loves reading, and is very interested in children, education and literacy. She has done a great deal of research on teaching reading and on helping children with dyslexia. Her hobbies are watching Netflix, learning gardening and financial literacy, and spending time with friends and family.

Rudo functioned in leadership roles from a very young age where he was Headboy at primary school and an avid cub scout for the Hazelwood Troop.

During his years at Harrison College he enjoyed a number of sports of which basketball, table tennis and long distance running were his favourite. He became a scout briefly but left for the more rugged appeal of the Cadet Corps and was involved in Key Club in the latter years of his school life.

Rudo attended the University of the West Indies but his entrepreneurial spirit prompted an early exit and he joined the business world at the age of 22. He started as a network marketer and quickly transitioned into the sale of electronics. During one of his sales calls, he was invited to bring his sales expertise to the financial industry and it was here that he saw the opportunity to combine his love for sales and helping people. For the past 5 years he has won several awards as a Financial Advisor at Sagicor Life Inc, where he is a current Gold Producer. To complement the work that he does, he started his financial consultant company Stretching The Dollar (www.stretchingthedollar.com), to provide much needed advice for those struggling in these tough economic times. Just recently he got into farming and started Green Thumbs nursery at his St. George home.

Still Rudo felt like there was something more to give and his attendance at the Old Harrisonian Society Annual General Meeting gave him the opportunity to do just that. It was announced that a mentorship program for students was to be implemented and he jumped on the opportunity to help form what is now the Kolij Empowerment Mentorship program. He is also the treasurer for the society and hopes to help propel the school forward into its next phase of continued excellence.

Outside of work Rudo, is hardly the type to sit at home. Still the avid basketball player he captained the Market Hill Basketball team for several years and is a level 1 certified FIBA coach. He loves to play pool and is an excellent salsa dancer. He is a member of the SAGE toastmasters club and was recently installed as Vice President of Public Relations for the club.

In spite of all his activities Rudo puts family first, and enjoys travelling, spending time at the beach and movies with his beautiful wife and daughter.

 

Every day brings forth promise and the capacity to make great things happen! Having benefitted from a sound intellectual and academic education at Harrison College between 1987 & 1994, Ms. Paulavette Atkinson has embraced the fact that a significant part of her life’s purpose involves giving back to the next generation of students and faculty of our illustrious alma mater.

With a personal philosophy that encompasses the belief “my journey is the destination”, she is as equally action-oriented as she is results-driven. In this vein she utilizes her boundless energy, professional expertise, passion for people and development and globe-trotting experiences to facilitate the mission of the Old Harrisonian Society.

Having taken a break in recent years to concentrate on marriage and motherhood, Paulavette seeks re-election to Team OHS to continue to propel work started on the Legacy Project through impetus on alumni engagement, resource acquisition, student mentorship as well as Public & Corporate Sector synergies. By enlightening others about our school’s ‘Heritage’ (for which she has had the privilege to be the Committee Chairperson) we will re-awaken our Kolij pride and re-ignite the flame needed to blaze a collective trail on the international stage, as we advance brand Harrison College to higher heights as a total quality academic institution.

Together we will achieve it!!! IN DEO FIDES.

Ricardo is currently the CEO and Chairman of Creative and Marketing company Acute Vision Incorporated., and Director of Motion Picture Studios ‘Bajans In Motion Incorporated’. After leaving Harrison College he earned his Associate Degree in Graphic Arts at the Barbados Community College where he was awarded Most Outstanding Student in Graphics. In 1991, he was awarded the first of ten European Council/Barbados Design Centre Scholarships and went on to study in the U.K.

As a student in the UK some of his notable accomplishments were creating designs for Speedo (the world’s best known swimwear brand), working on an information design project for the Department of Trade and Industry and being awarded second place in a National Juke Box Interface Design Student Competition. Ricardo graduated with a BA Hons. in Visual Communication from University of Central England and returned to Barbados in 1994.

On returning to Barbados, he spent his first year as a freelance Creative Consultant and Imaging specialist with specific emphasis on Design Management and Branding. Ricardo started to establish a regional client base, especially in the entertainment and corporate sectors and started building and training a team to help him service them.

He co-founded Acute Vision Inc. in November 1995 with his wife Donna an already established and accomplished Creative Director. This led the growth of a local high-end design and imaging boutique which went on to become one of the most comprehensive providers of creative, multimedia, marketing and social/digital communications services in the Caribbean.

Acute Vision currently works with a diverse range of clients from corporate, financial and governmental institutions to tourism and the entertainment industry. For almost 2 decades, Ricardo worked primarily as a consultant on most of Acute Vision’s regional and international projects.

From 2009 to 2012, Ricardo held the position of Creative Director of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership and its LIVE UP Campaign; managing and directing its branding and communications campaigns across 24 countries in the region.

In 2013, he shifted focus to the film industry where along with partners Selwyne Browne and Shakirah Bourne, produced and released 3 full-length feature films in the first eighteen months. These films have been featured at festivals in North America, Europe and the region and the first two are already in distribution in stores, and online across North america. In February 2014, they formed Bajans In Motion Inc; a full service movie production studio. Their first film PAYDAY won four awards; including the Award for Best Feature Film at the inaugural Barbados Visual Media Awards 2014.

In addition to his passion for creative entrepreneurship, Ricardo is also passionate about sharing his knowledge and contributing to the positive development of Barbados’ youth. Consequently he has been a Tutor/Lecturer of the Barbados Community College in the Division of Fine Arts, more specifically, the Associate Degree and Bachelor of Arts programmes in Graphic Design since 1994. Ricardo is also Chairman of the Executive Council of the Barbados Youth Business Trust where he gets to directly influence the positive growth of young aspiring entrepreneurs.