Students and teachers at the Saint Lucia TVET Institute School of Sustainable Agriculture and Culinary Arts are thrilled about some good news. The school has made it to the shortlist for a regional video competition led by CARICOM.
The I Am Agriculture: Youth in Agriculture High School Video Competition started last month and set a deadline of September 11.
The FAO, which supports this project, says agriculture is more than just farming. It is about food, jobs, new ideas, communities and the future of the region.
The organisation also believes that young people throughout the Caribbean have ideas, stories and experiences that can help others see agriculture in a new way.
With this in mind, the I Am Agriculture: Youth in Agriculture High School Video Competition asked students from all over the region to use their creativity and voices to show why agriculture is important and what it means to them, their communities, and the Caribbean.
Schools from CARICOM member states sent in several entries for the competition. In the end, 24 videos made the shortlist, with some countries having more than one entry. In Saint Lucia, only the TVET Institute: School of Sustainable Agriculture and Culinary Arts was selected.
“This is quite a big deal for us at the school for the students, of course, but also for our community and the wider Saint Lucia,” Lesha Gustave, the agriculture teacher at the school, told St Lucia Times.
She encourages Saint Lucians to visit the CARICOM Caribbean Facebook page, vote for the video by liking it, and share the link with friends and family.
Gustave says they put a lot of effort into making the video, which they submitted right on the deadline.
“We had toyed with the idea of entering the competition when we heard about it during the summer, but by the time school reopened, we were not sure if we would have the time to put something together,” she said.
“But a few days before the deadline, while we were on the farm, I spotted one of our students, Kellia Emmanuel, who is very passionate about agriculture. She goes into the culinary side of it and actually wants to be a chef.
“So I asked her, What do you like about agriculture and she just started off rattling off all the points, and I said, ‘This is it’. So we wrote down what she said, tweaked it a little, recorded it and the next day we stayed back after school until nine in the night, editing the video.”
The agriculture teacher said this was the hardest part.
She said she was thrilled when they found out the video was shortlisted. Now, she is encouraging not only parents and students, but also Saint Lucians everywhere to vote.
The winner will receive a prize of US$1,700, which will be awarded at the 20th Caribbean Week of Agriculture in Jamaica from September 27 to October 2, 2026. The winning student will also become the Youth in Agriculture ambassador for a year.
Voting ends on Monday, September 21, 2026.
You can vote for the Saint Lucia TVET School at this link:
