Philipsburg- Atwanna Voglezon, Davian Thompson, and Lysandra Peterson started the Summer Work Program on Wednesday July 15th 2009 at the Ministry of Constitutional and Home Affairs. Miss Voglezon and Miss Thompson are students at the St. Maarten Academy and Miss Peterson is a student at the Milton Peters College.
On their first day at work, the students were given a basic introduction to government on the executive, legislative, and judicial apparatus on the Kingdom, Federal, and Island level. Louis Delanson’s book “An Introduction to Government Island Territory of St. Maarten” and Edgar and Julian Lynch’s book “Know your political history”, among others are required reading for the Summer Work Program. In the days to come discussions will continue on citizenship, political participation, democracy, and constitutional affairs.
On Wednesday afternoon, the students met with Senators George Pantophlet and Drs. Rodolphe Samuel at the Parliament Building. The Senators gave a synopsis of their political career and provided insight on policies and legislation they handle on the federal level. The students also met with Mr. Julian Rollocks, Executive Assistant to Senator Erno Labega, who gave a short outline on government structure. Their day ended with a tour of the Government Administration building.
Minister Duncan met with the students on Thursday and gave a brief overview of the Ministry and his role in the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles. Duties and responsibilities of the Ministry, the function of the different directorates and agencies were also discussed.
Ms. Ari Sutton, Policy Assistant at the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and Mr. Terry J. Peterson, Executive Assistant to the State Secretary of Health, serve as coordinators of the three-week Program, which ends on July 31st.
