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Placencia Activist Finds Fuel for Her Cause at Youth Conference in London
Placencia Represented Among Belize's Best Placencia Village Council Chairlady Ilsa Villanueva won the Belize Tourism Board's (BTB) Minister's Award at their annual gala held in Belize City in October honoring leaders in the industry.
Monique Vernon presents her work in Placencia on reef conservation to global attendees at the two-week World Merit 360 conference in London. By JOLIE POLLARD Editor in Chief The Placencia Breeze pollard.jolie@gmail.com
As the daughter of a lifelong fisherman, 24-year-old Monique Vernon has known the waters of southern Belize since she was a baby. “My dad used to take us everywhere on the water […] If I wasn’t at the cayes, I was on the beach or you’d find me in a tree.” Vernon, who now works as the outreach officer for coral restoration non-profit, Fragments of Hope, says as she grew older she learned that she could no longer take the wonders of the environment that were a marvel to her as a child for granted.
Goals that address global challenges including climate and environmental degradation. The student’s experience made such an impression on Vernon that she kept the opportunity on her radar. Just out of college and working as the office manager at the Peninsula International Academy, Vernon successfully applied in 2016, but was discouraged by the fundraising effort she would need to take on to participate. The 10-month studies also required attending a two-week conference in the Phillipines. Knowing that she couldn’t give up on the educational opportunity that felt like the right match for her, she applied again and put her fears of fundraising aside. By November 2017 she was accepted again and with the support of many people who believed in her vision, in August 2018, she was on her way to London.
Unlike other categories that call for nominations from the public, this award is given at the Minister of Tourism's discretion. This was a first win for Placencia.
Chabil Mar's Nikita Young won the BTB's Frontline Person of the Year Award, a third for the luxury resort. (Natalie Ranguy won in 2012 and Althea Schable won in 2011.)
Placencia Village hotel pioneer Mrs. Lydia Villanueva of Lydia's Guesthouse (founded in 1990) was one of 15 Belizeans presented the prestigious Meritorious Award by Governor General Sir Colville Young at the Tribute to Belizean Patriot's Award Ceremony in September, recognizing her longstanding and impactful contributions to public service in Belize.
This path led her to pursue a bachelor’s degree at the University of Belize in natural resource management. It was during her studies that she Vernon started her new job with learned from a fellow student about Fragments of Hope in (FoH) in May the World Merit 360 program – a call to action concerning the 17 United See MONIQUE AT WORLD MERIT 360 Nations Sustainable Development on page 10
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