April 11th, 2024 – A well-known media personality has earned the Barbados Community College’s (BCC) Gabrielle Gay Award for Excellence in Literatures in English for his outstanding work as a student in the Liberal Arts Department.

At the same time, the Registrar of the College, Roger Worrell praised him for his subject choices.

Former CBC Sports Editor, Shawn Greene just graduated with an Associate Degree in Environmental Science and Literatures in English. Already a unique combination of disciplines to study, it was his almost straight ‘A’ profile in the Literature courses (he received one B+ over the two-year programme) that earned him the accolades.

In congratulating Greene for his achievements, Registrar Worrell stressed the importance of the study of literature to preserve the island’s cultural and moral traditions. The Registrar noted that students who read works of literature are more likely to appreciate themselves, their culture, and the associated morals and values.

“For example, persons who were exposed to ‘In the Castle of My Skin’ and ‘Growing up Stupid under the Union Jack’ etc learn to appreciate what Barbadiana is all about. So culture and appreciating your society comes through literature, but literature also develops your vocabulary and imagination. Television doesn’t do much for your imagination but reading a novel …. You can be transported to Russia … all over the world by just experiencing other pieces of literature”, he said.

This position was echoed by Gabrielle Gay, the patron of the prize. She acknowledged the combination of subjects Greene chose to study, noting that

contrary to what some might think, literature and environmental science can complement each other.

She posited that literature allows people to understand things at a deeper level which is the type of analysis needed now given the climate challenges faced by Barbados and the rest of the world.

Ms. Gay noted that “if we look at the world around us, the way the environment is with things have been happening very deleterious, we've had the greenhouse gases, we've got global warming … we need individuals who can think on a deeper level, to then create innovative solutions and mindsets that we need for the future because in mitigation and adaptation of climate change, we can't do what we were doing, because obviously, it's not working”.

For Greene, this is his second associate degree having completed the Mass Communication programme 20 years ago. He explained that this time around he was not accepted to his first choice subject geography, adding that while Literature was his second choice, he does not regret studying it. “I really enjoyed it, because I enjoy writing. And what I will leave with you is to let your passion guide you, if you're passionate about something, go after it. And if so ever made things easy. It wasn't easy balancing work and being a full-time student. It was not easy but because I was passionate about literature... that made it easy”.

In recognition of his outstanding achievement, Greene was presented with a plaque.