Continuing efforts toward disaster recovery brought a celebration to the St. John Marketplace Tuesday. Officials from the University of the Virgin Islands joined community members at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the island’s own UVI-CELL Center.
Seven-and-a-half years has passed since Hurricane Irma damaged the building where the university last offered extension services on St. John. But among those making remarks at Tuesday’s opening was a UVI educator who led classes at the Marketplace years before that.
“One thing St. John has taught me — your dreams here can get interrupted but they don’t die,” said Social Sciences Department Chair Elizabeth Jaeger. During the eight years she had lived on island, Jaeger said she taught an extension class in the then-rented space on the shopping center’s third floor.
The space now in operation on the second floor hosts an administrative office and a separate classroom. Partner agencies waiting to meet prospective students include the UVI-Small Business Development Center, the V.I. Apex Accelerator Program, and the Department of Education Adult Education and Family Literacy program.
Khalil Al-Arefi from the V.I. American Job Center explained the opportunities available through his agency’s partnership with UVI-CELL. “We now have an access point for job seekers. We’ll be here one- to two times a week to serve the community.
Suzanne Darrow-Magras, director of the Center for Excellence for Leadership and Learning, invited community members to approach the center with their ideas. “This space is your space,” she said.
Magras also mentioned that the first CELL offering would be a free bartending class, which is part of the center’s Culinary Arts program.
UVI President Safiya George assured the gathering that the St. John CELL Center was meant to serve the community’s needs and ambitions, including students in all stages of life.
And small business counselor Celia Kalousek added she was glad to have a new space to work with those on St. John who want to either start a business or grow an existing one. At the former counseling center, she said 23 new businesses started through SBDC.
St. John Administrator Shikima Jones-Sprauve and Senator-At-Large Angel Bolques Jr. appeared in support of a new beginning for UVI on St. John.
