And in lighter news, 17-year-old Dennis Gladden knew from before he was in high school he needed to apply for a scholarship to be able to attend the University of Belize. The financial assistance was the most important thing for him since his parents died when he was only 1-year-old and his grandma had to raise him in the heart of the Gaza. But Gladden worked hard and managed to get the title of salutatorian at Wesley College. And today, he finally got that scholarship.

The Social Security Board held their handing over ceremony today, where the recipients of the scholarships signed their contracts. Courtney Menzies was there and has this story.

The moment that 17-year-old Dennis Gladden has been waiting for since he graduated arrived today after he received his full scholarship to the University of Belize from the Social Security Board. While he was excited to receive advice and electronics from everyone who reached out after seeing his story, the scholarship was his main goal, and today he was overcome with emotion.

Dennis Gladden - Scholarship Recipient, Associates
"I feel very happy and first of all I just want to thank SSB for this opportunity. I feel very emotional, my first scholarship and I just have to stay motivated and do what I do to make me happy."

Courtney Menzies
"So, this is a full scholarship for UB for the two years that you're going, right?"

Dennis Gladden
"Wow, I didn't know that but it's a surprise and that's what you wish for, or hoping, and I'm very glad for it and I know my grandmother will be happy whenever I manage to tell her but she is not working so it will help her a lot and I just have to be focused because I know this wonderful institution will look after me and I just have to be focused like what I said."

Courtney Menzies
"How prepared do you feel, you got the scholarship, you recently got a laptop and a cell phone, how do you feel going into your first semester at university?"

Dennis Gladden
"Well, it's university, it's nothing like high school, and I understand that. I've always been that person who… who is… Independent and I have always used to doing my work without the reminder of someone and that's what UB is all about. I'm very prepared. After this I have to speak to my advisor so he can unlock my registration so I can pick or choose my class. So it's a lot but you have to be willing to prepare yourself and just be motivated."

Now, he has a chance at that Associates Degree in Natural Resources Management. And he plans to use the money he's earning at his job at The Radisson to fund his transportation and food expenses, since he will be travelling to Belmopan.

And just like him, 56 other recipients were excited to get this financial assistance, something that they were thankful for, especially during the pandemic.

And the general manager at SSB, Chandra Cansino, said that this was the year with the most applicants. While they couldn't have provided 300 scholarships, she explained that the selection process was a little different this year.

Chandra Cansino - General Manager, Corporate Customer Relations, SSB
"This year I think we had our highest number of applicants, we had 350 applicants to the scholarship portal and out of those, we shortlisted 138 so that's the amount of interviews that we did and eventually we awarded 56 scholarship. They are full scholarships for the most part, I think in the Bachelor category sometimes there's a little discrepancy in the quantum of the scholarship and the actual tuition. But definitely the Associate and the high school are full scholarships. I think like most scholarship programs, we look at financial need and we look at grades. This year however, we looked at financial need first and then grades second and you know, sometimes we tend to shortlist the B's and just interview the A's, we took a little different approach this year and we included the B's and the A's."

And while going back to school in the time of COVID is a daunting task, these students now have one less weight on their shoulders.