SSB Celebrates Academic Excellence with Scholarship Awards

Eighty-five young Belizeans are getting more than financial support tonight. They are getting a vote of confidence in their future. This morning, the Social Security Board awarded scholarships to students heading into high school and sixth form during its 2026 Scholarship Award Ceremony. The event brought together students, parents, educators, and SSB officials to celebrate academic achievement. Since launching the program in 2001, SSB has helped hundreds of Belizean students continue their education and pursue their goals. Officials say the scholarship program is not only about rewarding hard work, but also about investing in young people who can help shape the country’s future. We spoke with SSB Public Relations Manager Vanessa Vellos about the impact of the program and what this year’s awards mean for the recipients.

 

Vanessa Vellos, Public Relations Manager, SSB

“Today we are celebrating the 25^th Anniversary of the Social Security Board’s scholarship award program. So, for the past twenty-five years the social security board has been transforming lives through education. So today is a very special day. It is not just a regular scholarship award ceremony. We are celebrating twenty-five years of giving back. So for the scholarship award program we have we got two hundred applications this year and of that sum we were able to give out eighty-five scholarships this year. Sixty-four for students who are pursuing higher level education at the associates level and twenty-one high school scholarships. We are proud to say that we will be awarding those scholarships at today’s ceremony. The requirement first off to get one of the scholarships is that you need to be a born Belizean, demonstrate financial need, demonstrate that you can complete and academic program and also demonstrate that you are an academic person in that you have a B+ average.”

 

SSB says today’s event aligns with its mission to be a beacon of hope through meaningful investments in people and communities.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: