Photo shows the group of first-year electrical engineering students at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in Mandeville, who gained many hours of hands-on training during the 2024-2025 academic year. Led by instructor Conroy Thompson, the students performed like a maintenance crew on campus. Their activities involved the retrofitting of gazebos on campus where they replaced energy-inefficient lighting with LED, installed photocells, and replaced power outlets. Throughout the year, the students also engaged in tasks such as electrical wiring and the use of conduits/piping; repairing of appliances such as the pastry mixer in the cafeteria, as well as water pumps. The students also worked off campus at organisations in Mandeville including Golf View Hotel as well as Consolidated Health Services, where they repaired water pumps, heaters and electrical generators among other tasks.

“They performed well. I proved I can make a first-year electrical engineering student marketable,” remarked instructor Conroy Thompson (standing at right in the back row).