The 2010 USC Portraits of Excellence Scholarship Event is fast approaching, and it is time to get to know your representatives. Valley Voice interviewed the delegates and is pleased to share the following insights with you.

Name: Narelle Magloire

Country/Club Representing:

The Dominican Club

Interests: I enjoy reading, writing, cooking and dabbling on the computer. I am good at programming. I like sports, particularly track and field.

Career Plans: I plan to go to Medical School and pursue a career in Pediatrics. Valley Voice: How has your preparation for Portraits of Excellence been so far? Narelle Magloire: My preparation has been “so far so good.” I am a very busy bio major so it’s important that I organize things in schedules and designate specific times to complete all my tasks. I tried to do some stuff at home over the Christmas break so I’m abreast of my requirements thus far.

Valley Voice: The theme for this year ‘Pensare Verde.’ is translated ‘going green.’ Why do you think this is important?

Narelle Magloire: Going green is important because with today’s rapid technological advancements, its inevitable that we will soon live in a fully computerized society. The now popular methods, like handing in assignments on actual leaves of paper will be a thing of the past. This will be a practice that will contribute to the conservation of our natural resources.

Name: Martin Babb

Country/Club Representing:

The Guyanese Club

Interests: I like playing lawn tennis and I have an interest in new inventions. As such, I spend a lot of my time researching and becoming aware of new technologies and other related developments.

Career Plans: After USC I will be going back to Guyana to work for about five years. Subsequent to that, I'll probably do another degree. However I really want to be a missionary pastor, but I may have to spend some time gaining experience at the churches back home.

Valley Voice: How has your preparation for Portraits of Excellence been so far?

Martin Babb: Slightly hectic since I now have to synchronize my preparations with my other responsibilities, but thus far I’ve been managing fairly well. I have an idea as to what I want to do in the research paper, so that part is more or less taken care of. Additionally, something that motivates me is the following statement by Dr Washington Carver: “Be clean both inside and out. Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor. Lose, if need be, without squealing. Win without bragging. Always be considerate of women, children, and older people. Be too brave to lie. Be too generous to cheat. Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.” These guidelines have been propelling and motivating me.

Valley Voice: The theme for this year ‘Pensare Verde.’ is translated ‘going green.’ Why do you think this is important?

Martin Babb: The advent of industrialization and the creation of factories has resulted in pollution of the environment, and now we can’t bring it back to its pristine stage, but at least the ‘going green’ initiative can raise an awareness of the effects that pollution can have on our quality of life.