Leiseth Chambers, a student in hotel management at the University of the West Indies Mona campus is one of 22 students from the region who work in the hotel and tourism sector who have been awarded scholarships and grants from the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA). Chambers will now transfer to the UWI Nassau Campus in the Bahamas to complete her Bachelor's degree in hotel and tourism management. The scholarships and grants, provided through the Caribbean Hotel Foundation (CHF), total US$60,100 and constitute one of the largest scholarship programmes in the hospitality industry. Trinidadian Vani Maharaj was the recipient of the first-ever US$10,000 corporate scholarship, offered by Virgin Holidays. She will be attending one of the top culinary schools in North America, the Johnson & Wales University in Florida, to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Culinary Arts. Maharaj's ambition is to become an executive chef and venture into the field of media - one of her dreams is to host shows, competitions and write books related to the culinary arts and gastronomy. "There is nothing more noble, more necessary or more rewarding than assisting our Caribbean brothers' and sisters' advancement in the region's number one industry - tourism," said an enthusiastic CHF chairman Robert Sherman. "CHA is striving to create more alliances of this kind, in order to be able to provide more young Caribbean people with the education they need to take the lead in the tourism industry in their own countries." He commended Virgin Holidays for its decision to offer the very first corporate scholarship which, he said, will again be available next year for all academic applicants. Every year, CHF offers academic scholarships to students who demonstrate a strong commitment to the hotel and tourism industry and the potential for future success. Scholarships are available for professional development, journalism, and for attending seminars; further education grants for teachers are also available. Application forms for the 2005 scholarship programme will be available from November 2004 on the CHF website, www.caribbeanhotelfoundation.org. SOURCE: JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM