For 15 students from Barbados’ Parkinson Memorial School, the 2024 summer break was far from a period of idle rest. Instead, it became a transformative stepping stone toward their professional futures, thanks to the annual Summer Internship Programme run by leading local conglomerate Goddard Enterprises Ltd (GEL), which placed students with roles across nine of the group’s subsidiary companies. Over approximately six weeks of on-the-ground work experience, participants gained firsthand insight into professional workplaces, built core employability skills, and left the program with far greater confidence and clarity around their long-term career goals.
The initiative, which forms part of GEL’s formal adoption partnership with Parkinson Memorial School, has grown into one of the corporation’s most impactful community investments, pairing young learners with hands-on roles across a diverse range of sectors. Placements spanned administration, customer service, facilities maintenance, event coordination, merchandising, warehousing, technical support, and agricultural work, giving each student the chance to test out professional environments aligned with their emerging interests. Three participants in particular shared how the experience reshaped their approach to their upcoming education and career paths.
Serena Prescott and Akobi Bispham both completed their placements with GEL’s Property Management Department based in Fontabelle, where they took on hands-on maintenance work to upgrade public spaces at the local Hanschell Stores. Prescott, who made history as the first female intern to join the department’s team, will begin studies in Marine Diesel Engineering at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute this coming September. She reflected that the internship taught her invaluable soft skills around interpersonal communication and the value of patience in professional work, lessons she says will serve her well in her technical studies. For Bispham, who is set to join the Barbados Youth Service later this month, the experience built foundational work habits: he grew accustomed to the early start times common across full-time roles, and even mastered precise painting techniques that leave him confident calling himself a “painting pro.”
Shaheen Payne, who interned at Tropical Battery, a subsidiary of Courtesy Garage Ltd, described his placement as a deeply rewarding, eye-opening experience for which he remains genuinely grateful. His daily work included hands-on tasks like testing the power capacity of automotive battery cells and assisting with vehicle assessments to identify when battery replacements were needed. Payne will soon begin training in masonry through a local skills development program, and plans to follow his father’s career path by enrolling in an automotive mechanics course after completing his initial training.
The 2024 cohort’s placements were distributed across the GEL group to maximize exposure to different industries: four students joined the Goddard Catering Group facility in Charnock’s, Christ Church, two each worked with Caribbean Label Crafts, Marshall Trading, and GEL Property Management, and single placements were filled at GEL’s Haggatt Hall head office, Precision Packaging, Courtesy Garage, Goddards Shipping (Barbados), and affiliated company Redlands Estates Farm.
Valerie Lovell, GEL’s Head Office People Coordinator, officially congratulated all participating students on completing the annual program. She emphasized that the internship remains one of the corporation’s most rewarding community and education initiatives, noting that GEL leadership takes great pride in watching young learners grow throughout their placements and celebrating another successful year of the partnership. For participating students, the program has already delivered tangible results: many returning to secondary school now have a clearer vision of their post-graduation paths, while those heading to tertiary education have a far stronger, experience-based understanding of what careers align with their skills and interests.