About three weeks ago, four Saint Lucians – Leon Cherry, Kina Nicholas, Jevanic Henry and Ronaldo Degazon – received the life-changing news that they had been selected as Chevening Scholarship recipients for 2025.
The Chevening Scholarship, funded by the UK government, is said to be one of the world’s most competitive awards. It supports outstanding individuals with leadership potential to pursue a one-year master’s degree at a UK university.
For the Saint Lucian cohort, the long and often daunting application and interview process has finally paid off. Each will soon journey to their respective UK universities to embark on a new chapter of academia.
What does that moment feel like? For Kina Nicholas, who will be studying climate change, development and policy at the University of Sussex, the opportunity carries deep personal meaning. “I was deeply grateful and proud. Coming from Choiseul, even more so the small community of De Breuil, I immediately thought of my community and felt motivated to carry their voices into global spaces,” she told St Lucia Times.
Since the inception of the Chevening Scholarship in 1983, many Saint Lucians have benefited from the programme, often returning home with new skills, perspectives and experiences to support the island’s national development agenda. Among them are Kendall Elva, a 2017 scholar, and Yasmine Francois, who earned her award in 2022. Both told St Lucia Times that the chance to study abroad – fully funded – was a major motivating factor in their decision to apply.
Elva, who studied social development at the University of Essex, described his time in the UK as “phenomenal”, though he admitted the ever-changing weather “did not fit too well” with him. Still, the academic exposure proved transformative.
“I think what I really cherish about studying in the UK is when you are at a university such as Sussex, you get exposed to a lot of critical literature. For me, getting to understand issues by delving into the nuances and unpacking them helped me to develop a very modern view of looking at development,” he explained.
Yet, as both Francois and Elva emphasised, the Chevening journey is not without its hurdles. Francois recalled that her dissertation proved to be her steepest mountain to climb, as she grappled at times with self-doubt.
“Sometimes you’re putting in the work but you just can’t connect it,” she said. “Just having to go through the process of sticking to it. Writing the dissertation was my biggest challenge; in the end, I got it done.”
Elva, too, had to adapt to new academic expectations, though he hesitated to frame it as a “challenge”. Instead, he described it as an adjustment.
“They mark very hard in England. When you’re used to getting your As and A+s…. I studied at UWI and in Calgary, Canada, and I would get 90s. But when I got to England, for my first paper, I got 68. I found that I really had to step up my level of critical analysis of concepts,” he said.
Both Elva and Francois agreed that their time in the UK also offered something equally valuable: cultural immersion and lasting connections. Experiencing English life, engaging with diverse perspectives, and building a network of fellow Cheveners from across the globe, they said, were among the most gratifying aspects of their journeys.
But beyond the personal enrichment lies a broader question: What does the Chevening Scholarship mean for a small nation like Saint Lucia?
“I think the Chevening Scholarship matters a lot for small nations. If you examine the quality of work that past scholars are making in their specific fields, one can see that they are making a resounding contribution,” Elva said. He pointed to examples such as Dr James Fletcher, Alva Baptiste, Dominic Fedee and more recently, Louise Victor. “So the Chevening Scholarship, I believe, allows for the exposure of Saint Lucians who really want to get a more nuanced and modern understanding of the issues that they are working on. It ensures our human resource is modernised.”
Francois echoed the sentiment, stressing the value of exposure. “For a young Saint Lucian national going out, that’s priceless. Going out into a more advanced, more developed society and getting that level of cultural appreciation, understanding diversity and developing your thinking skills,” she explained.
After gaining their master’s degrees, both Elva and Francois have been able to translate their academic journeys into tangible contributions at home and abroad. Elva now serves as Deputy Director for Social Transformation in the Ministry of Equity, applying the lessons of his postgraduate studies to advanced community development planning in Saint Lucia. Francois, meanwhile, has built on her specialisation in international development, working with an international development agency where she applies her expertise to real-world challenges.
These are the kinds of pathways that the newest cohort of Saint Lucian Chevening scholars hopes to follow. For Nicholas, the vision is clear: “I want to help shape climate-smart policies that support both environmental sustainability and the needs of vulnerable groups. This remains a key focus for me, coming from my social work background. It’s about protecting communities like Choiseul, ensuring rural voices are included in decision-making, and contributing to the sustainable development of Saint Lucia and our Caribbean region.”
For Nicholas, Cherry, Henry and Degazon, the journey begins now.
