DEJA Bremmer, a student at the Westmoreland-based Manning’s School, has emerged as winner of the Junior Minister of Tourism Competition after participating in the finals of the public speaking competition held on Monday at Sandals Royal Plantation, Ocho Rios.

This is the second time a student from the Manning’s School has won the title.

In October Bremmer will go on to represent Jamaica at the Caribbean Tourism Youth Congress in Turks and Caicos.

In second place was Yeshima Thompson from Excelsior High School, with third place going to Jose Marti Technical High’s Olivia Rodney.

“I am extremely grateful and excited to be this year’s winner. I had a wonderful experience with the competition which involved training sessions and a tour of Kingston, which was a lot of fun,” said Bremmer, the incoming junior tourism minister,

According to Bremmer, she is looking forward to basking in all the experiences as the new junior minister of tourism, ultimately representing the country well at the youth congress and other activities that she will be engaged in as junior minister.

Bremmer’s coach, Raymond Bingham, the staff advisor at Manning’s School, is happy that the school has retained the junior minister title.

“Today’s competition was excellent, and I encourage students to participate. It gives them access to a lot of resources and helps to build self-confidence. We [Manning’s School] will continue to set the bar high and promote participation in the Tourism Awareness Action Club at the school,” said Bingham.

Last year Sanecia Taylor from Manning’s School won the title.

The junior minister of tourism will meet with Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, Director of Tourism Donovan White, and industry figures as part of her one-year term.

Bremmer may also participate in activities such as the Tourism Awareness Week Youth Forum.

Bremmer received the winning trophy and certificate, an HP laptop, and a day pass for four at Sandals Beaches, Ocho Rios, while her staff advisor received a $20,000 gift certificate. Second- and third- place winners, Thompson and Rodney were the recipients of a certificate of merit and Samsung tablets, while their staff advisers each received $10,000 gift certificates.

White expressed his delight with the growth, development, and commitment of the finalists.

“All three finalists have shown tremendous improvement since round one. They have represented themselves and their schools extremely well, and we hope with this experience they will be ambassadors of Brand Jamaica and use their new-found knowledge to spread the valuable importance of tourism to the island,” said White.

The public speaking competition is open to students between the ages of 15 and 17 years. The students must be members of their school’s Tourism Awareness Action Club to participate.

The topics for this year’s staging focused on wellness tourism, accessibility tourism, and building a resilient and sustainable tourism workforce.

The students were charged with the task of delivering a three minute presentation on the topics. Each student was also required to give a one-minute response to a mystery question on an unknown, tourism-related topic before a panel of judges which included Essie Gardner, manager of the Tourism Information Centre; and Anniona Jones, principal of Marcus Garvey Technical High School.

In a charge to the finalists, manager of Sandals Royal Plantation, Sheldon James urged them to continue making a difference through participating in activities like these which contribute to the powerful Brand Jamaica.

“To all the teachers and parents: continue to encourage and mould these students and let’s create the future ministers, or any other profession,” said James as he declared his pleasure in hosting such a relevant and important event that has provided students with the opportunity to know more about Jamaica’s tourism product.