Two indigenous women receive scholarships from SBM Offshore

Kimberly Kenyon and Graziella Abraham (third and fourth from left) with SBM Offshore Guyana’s General Manager, Martin Cheong (second from right); Human Resource Manager, Onecia Johnson (right); the University of Guyana’s Vice Chancellor, Dr. Paloma Mohamed Martin (second from left), and the Ministry of Education’s Deputy Chief Education Officer with responsibility for Amerindian and Hinterland Development, Marti De Souza (SBM photo).
Kimberly Kenyon and Graziella Abraham (third and fourth from left) with SBM Offshore Guyana’s General Manager, Martin Cheong (second from right); Human Resource Manager, Onecia Johnson (right); the University of Guyana’s Vice Chancellor, Dr. Paloma Mohamed Martin (second from left), and the Ministry of Education’s Deputy Chief Education Officer with responsibility for Amerindian and Hinterland Development, Marti De Souza (SBM photo).

SBM Offshore Guyana yesterday announced that Kimberly Kenyon and Graziella Abraham have been awarded scholarships to pursue their tertiary education in varying engineering fields at the University of Guyana for the academic year 2023/2024.

Through the company’s Scholarship Programme for Indigenous Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the young women will receive full financial support which includes tuition, accommodation, transportation, books and other resources required to pursue their respective disciplines, a release from the company said.

During a ceremony on October 19,  Kenyon and  Abraham were officially presented with their letters of acceptance by General Manager,  Martin Cheong.

Kenyon, a first-year student pursuing an Associate of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering, expressed her gratitude, saying, “I feel honoured to be given this scholarship. I think it’s a big opportunity for myself and my colleague; It’s like a weight lifted off your shoulders to actually put your full focus on your studies.” 

Abraham, who is also a first-year student, will be pursuing an Associate of Science Degree in Civil Engineering. She highlighted that the scholarship relieves her of the financial responsibility attached to pursuing higher education and training so that she can focus solely on her academic pursuits. She said, “I can put all my efforts towards getting good grades, and I can put all my efforts towards making sure that I study without that pressure of financial stress, so this scholarship really and truly benefits me a lot”, the release said.

SBM Offshore  is a Dutch-based global group which is supplying floating production, storage and offloading oil platforms to ExxonMobil’s operations here.