Students from the C.H. Reeves Junior High School got up close with stakeholders in the maritime industry during a Maritime Youth Expo at the school Monday.

Various representatives from local and international organisations were on hand at the expo to share with the students the significance and importance of the industry.

The objective, said First Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation Montez Williams, is to inspire a new generation of maritime professionals.

“We wanted to expose the young people to dream big and think about careers beyond what they normally would normally think of and put energies towards studying maritime-related industries.”

C.H. Reeves was selected as the school to stage Monday’s expo because it is considered a central institution and organisers are hoping to tap into the minds of students and create excitement and interest in the maritime programme ahead of their senior high school years.

Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin addressed the students and encouraged them to take full opportunity of this gift that they are being given.

She also reminded the students of the growth that is taking place in the maritime industry and the educational opportunities soon to be available to them through the Lowell J. Mortimer Maritime Academy set to open in the fall of 2015.

“Today you are seeing people caring about your prospects here at C.H. Reeves,” the minister said. “They’re coming from different areas of life and different parts of the country and indeed the world and because of this love and care, these people and their organisations worked together, collaborated, cross-referenced, put their heads together, invested monies and created a symposium – a maritime expo that will expose you to possible potential career avenues in the maritime field and just may open new windows of opportunity for you.”

The academy is a project of Campbell’s Shipping which has provided job opportunities to scores of Bahamians working in the maritime industry.

“We’ve been sensitising a lot of young people for a number of years to the maritime industry and we wanted to show them another avenue in which they could actually get international through sailing and [other ways],” said Jamal Smith, manning manager at Campbell’s Shipping Company.

“We have a new institution now – it’s about a $30 million institution – state-of-the-art all of the equipment that you find in the US and Norway – we brought it home because we wanted a larger pool of students to be able to have access to this in order to cut down travel and other costs and that’s what we’re explaining to the students today.”

Mrs. Hanna-Martin also boasted of the scholarships that will be made available to students wishing to enter the maritime field through the LJM Academy.