February 25, 2011 - DAAS Awards Scholarships
Dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded four scholarships to students of the Dominica State College in the general area of plant sciences. Awardees included Dwight de Gonzague (Agriculture), Eddiann Samuel, Dahrin Augustin, Nellie Jules (the latter three in Biology). The presentation of the awards was made by past DAAS President Dr Clayton Shillingford. The press were present and so were DSC Faculty members and DAAS members Raglan Riviere, webmaster, and Dr Thomson Fontaine.
March 17, 2011 - DAAS Guest Lecture
Dr Clayton Shillingford gave a lecture at the Dominica State College to Agriculture and Biology students within the Guest Lecture component of the Dominica Academy of Arts & Sciences (DAAS) MOU with the Dominica State College. The title of the lecture was "Discovery, Development and Proper Use of Agrichemicals", a topic of great interest as farmers attempt to balance the use of agrichemicals within an integrated pest management, organic and conventional farming processes to increase production of food, fiber, essential oils, floriculture and agroprocessing.
Wednesday April 23, 2011 - Gifts of Clothing & Educational Toys
Under the DAAS umbrella a gift of children's clothing and educational toys valued at EC$1500 was made to Zion Preparatory School by Dr Clayton Shillingford. A similar gift was made through DAAS local member Agnes Esprit to children in the Jimmit/Mahaut area. The gifts were kind donation from Dr Shillingford's daughter, Ms Gillian Shillingford- Palacios.
May 31, 2011 - Learning Aids presented to Roseau Public Library from Canada
DAAS member, Ron Charles, attended a Library Fair at his local library in Canada where he obtained a number of brochures and pamphlets prepared by the local school district, and Fraser Valley Regional Library. These materials are used by area libraries and elementary schools to encourage reading and promote literacy. Ron requested and was given permission to use and reproduce these learning aids for educational and non-commercial purposes. Presentation was made to Ms. Juliana Paul on behalf of DAAS.
August 05, 2011 - DAAS/De Fillip Summer Internships
On July 29, the Dominica State College (DSC) students Jeanne Royer and Dwight Degonzague from Agriculture & Biology completed the DAAS/De Filipps Summer Internships at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History . They were accompanied by instructor Mrs. Sharon Allicock-Joseph, Faculty of Applied Arts & Technology
For the thirteen students who applied for the Internship, the selection was based on evaluation of an essay "The Value of the Smithsonian as an Institution of Learning" as well as a wide ranging interview.
The students and Mrs Joseph worked on two projects, one titled "Digitization of West Indian Plant Specimen Records Contributing to Target One and Target Two of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation". Focus was on entering data on locality information of the 5000 or so herbarium specimens that were collected from Dominica during the Bredin- Archbold-Smithsonian Biological Survey of Dominica in the 60's and digitisation of the West Indies plant collection. The work was guided principally by Dr Gary Krupnick, Plant Conservation Project Lead and Vinita Gowda..The group also had the opportunity of viewing other interesting biological displays at the Institution and other points of interest in the Washington area..including the Airspace and Art Museums, the White House and the War & Lincoln Memorials.
DAAS and Dominica's relations with the Smithsonian Institution continue. The current July- September issue of The Plant Press published by the Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution & the US National Herbarium features a report titled Island Explorations & Evolutionary Investigations by Vinita Gowda. She presents a summary of her graduate research on the plant-pollinator interactions between the plant species Heliconia bihae and H caribbea (the Balisiers) and purple throated humming birds on the islands of St Kitts, Dominica and St Vincent
DAAS expresses its thanks to the staff of the Smithsonian Institution and especially Dr Krupnick, and Dr John Kress, Director for Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet, for hosting the DSC students on this the second year of the Internships and to Dr Thomson Fontaine who provided accommodation at his home to the two students.. Mrs Joseph was put up in a hotel near by.
The students are now expected to write a comprehensive report on their internship
November 3, 2011 - Q 95 Talent Show Gift
DAAS received request to contribute gift items towards prizes and awards for Q 95 Talent Show finalists. The Talent Show is to highlight and support young Dominican talented singers and awards will be presented at a Special Christmas Awards Show on Saturday December 17, 2011
DAAS through Dr Clayton Shillingford has contributed US$500 from the DAAS/De Filipps Fund for one laptop computer and a plaque.
Mr Sheridan Gregoire, Chief Executive Officer , Q 95 FM Radio, has submitted thanks and acknowledgement of gifts to Dr Shillingford and Mr Gabriel Christian, President Pro Tem on behalf of DAAS.
November 9, 2011 - Dominica Sea Cadets Debut at Independence Day Parade
To universal approval and much applause, the Dominica Sea Cadet Unit made its debut at Dominica's 33rd Independence Day Military parade. The Sea Cadet Unit received early support, as far back as 2006, from the Dominica Academy of Arts & Sciences. The launch of the unit took place in the summer of 2011 at the Goodwill Secondary School and augurs well for Dominican youth in that it spotlights marine science, fisheries, and aqua-culture as meaningful career options. With 16 miles of territorial sea and a 30 mile exclusive economic zone, Dominica has more marine territory than it has land. It is our hope to continue the national development collaboration between the DAAS and the Dominica Cadet Corps program. It is of note that several of the founding members of the DAAS were themselves Cadets at the Dominica Grammar School. View Pictures and Youtube Video.
December 01, 2011 - Assistance following Tropical storm Ophelia
The recent storm Ophelia caused a significant amount of personal and property damage including loss of clothing. In the wake of that storm the daughter of Dr Clayton Shillingford , Gillian Shillingford- Palacios assembled mostly children's clothing and school supplies that were shipped in a barrel. Dr Shillingford passed these on to Fr Cuffy for distribution mostly in the Mahaut/Massacre area.
December, 2011 - Oceanographic Institute of Dominica (OID)
Dr Clayton Shillingford has been proviidng technical and administrative support to the Oceanographic Institute of Dominica (OID) on a voluntary basis. OID is based in Picard, Portsmouth and grew coral for export to North America and Europe for aquaria. Many Dominicans are employed and the business has expanded to fish farming of Tilapia for local sales and for regional export. Dr. Shillingford was asked as Projector Director to put a management team together to run the operation with the option to buy. At handover the facility had a net worth of about EC$1.5 million.