PenDragon - the official magazine of Lyford Cay International School PenDragon Vol 5, Spring 2019 | Page 18

Another thing that stood out to me was the fact
that LCIS had a really great art programme. I was
able to express my creativity through the arts.
LCIS still does an awesome job of promoting
the arts. I like that LCIS has a STEAM-focused
program where Science, Engineering and Maths
are combined with the Arts, which seems like
a continuation of what I was doing in primary
school. I’m really happy to see that.
ALUMNI NOTES:
D’Andre Wilson-
Ihejirika (1993-
1997) hosts
Hack-a-Thon
on Campus
D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika attended
the then-Lyford Cay School in the
nineties before continuing her
education in Canada and becoming
an engineer. In her spare time, she
co-founded BETA, an organisation
that organises extra-curricular STEM
activities for Bahamian students.
BETA, in collaboration with LCIS,
recently held a Hack-a-Thon event at
the LCIS campus. D’Andre described
the event and recalled her time at Lyford
Cay School.
Tell us about coming back to
LCIS with the Hack-a-Thon.
What particular campus changes
stood out to you during your
recent visit?
BETA-Hack was the first Hack-a-Thon that BETA
has coordinated. We brought in students from
a number of schools to participate. We have
tried to do it for the past year, but needed the
right partner. LCIS was the ideal partner because
the school was able to support us by providing
laptops, technology expertise and great facilities
like Dingman Hall, which was perfect for this
kind of collaborative event. Having fast campus-
wide WiFi also helped. Overall, LCIS provided
a great environment for students from across
The Bahamas to come together and learn about
how technology can be used to solve global
problems.
I haven’t visited LCIS in about six years. There
have been a number of updates to the campus:
Dingman Hall, the pool and the Secondary
building. When I went to LCIS, we didn’t have a
high school. It’s interesting to see how easily the
students move around the campus.
What I also find interesting is that amid the
school growing and changing, there are still a
number of features that are exactly the same
as I remember. The same class that I took art
lessons in is still there. But it has been upgraded
with projectors and smart-boards to facilitate
learning. So there’s some nostalgia, but it’s great
to see that the classrooms I learned in have been
updated.
What are you up to now
professionally?
What lesson did you learn at
LCIS that you will always take
through life?
I am currently an engineer working for an
energy company in Alberta, Canada.
Some of the programmes that I was involved in
like arts programmes or Eureka will always stay
with me because they encouraged me to explore
different areas and try new things. Having a small
campus and student body also taught me how
to collaborate with a number of different people.
The lessons I learned about collaboration and
cooperation at LCIS are what I’ve taken with me
throughout my life.
How are you involved with BETA?
I am one of the co-founders of BETA, which stands for
Bahamas Engineering and Technology Advancement, along
with Biomedical Engineer, Trenika Rolle-Dukes. We started the
organisation because we wanted to introduce Bahamian youth to
engineering and technology
at a younger age so that
they can be more familiar,
comfortable and confident
with the subjects and more
able to make the decision
to study STEM in university.
When we were in high school,
we didn’t even know what
engineering was until we went
to college, which was a little
bit late. I kind of stumbled into
a career as an engineer.
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D'Andre during her first days at LCIS (third
from the left in the front row)
Was there any experience at LCIS
that made you want to pursue a
career in science?
Since I was in primary school, I have loved science.
At Lyford Cay, in particular, we had an after-school
programme called the Eureka Programme, which
allowed high-performing science students to
participate in STEM activities after school. That,
along with other learning experiences at Lyford
Cay, sparked my interest in science.
The LCIS Hack-a-Thon team during the three-
day event.
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