Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 18, 2016 (SKNIS): Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Miss Sonia Boddie, was appointed Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly today, November 18, filling the vacant shoes left by Miss Jihan Williams, who served in that role for several years. Miss Williams, a lawyer by profession, is now the Registrar of the Intellectual Property Office.
Miss Boddie was commended by the Cabinet of the Government of National Unity and Speaker of the National Assembly, Honourable Michael Perkins.
In commending Miss Boddie, Prime Minister Dr. The Honourable Timothy Harris, praised her dedication.
“The hard work which must be done in the Parliament requires dedicated officials,” Prime Minister Harris said.
Ms. Sonia Boddie hails from the village of Tabernacle. She graduated from the Tabernacle Primary School as the valedictorian in 1996. She attended the Cayon High School from 1996-2001, where she not only excelled academically, but also represented the school in several competitions. She was adjudged Most Promising Youth Parliamentarian in the 2001 Commonwealth Day debate and was rewarded ten pound sterling from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her efforts. Ms. Boddie also studied at the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College from 2001-2003 before entering the teaching profession, and serving as an untrained teacher at the Cayon Primary School for two years.
She completed a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations with First Class Honors from the Universidad Internacional in Mexico in 2009 and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with Merit from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom in 2012. Her Masters dissertation focused on the “Hindrances to the Proper Functioning of the Public Accounts Committee in St. Kitts and Nevis”. She has also completed professional development training in Leadership in Canada, the Dominican Republic and Barbados, training in International Law in Brazil, training in Quantitative and Qualitative Techniques in Data Analysis for Public Policy at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, training in International Diplomacy at the Andres Bello Diplomatic Academy of Chile and training in Mexican Foreign Policy at the Matias Romero Diplomatic Institute of Mexico. She is also fluent in Spanish.
She has a list of accomplishments under her belt including, recipient of the Cable and Wireless Scholarship from 1996-2003, recipient of the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Scholarship in 2002,recipient of the Mexican Government Scholarship 2005-2009,Caribbean-Canada Emerging Leader 2011, Organization of American States Scholar in 2011 and 2014, British Chevening Scholar 2011-2012, Member of the University of Birmingham first delegation to participate in the Harvard Model United Nations Debate in Boston in 2012, and a One Young World Ambassador in 2013, just to name a few. She served as the CARICOM Youth Ambassador for the Federation from August 2013-July 2015 and traveled to far-flung countries such as South Africa, South Korea and France representing the youth of the Federation and the Caribbean. She was also profiled as a Commonwealth Young Achiever in 2015. She also recently served as a panellist for UNESCO at an “Internet and the Radicalization of Youth: Preventing, Acting, Living Together Conference”, held in Quebec, Canada from Oct 31- November 2, 2016.
Ms. Boddie also believes in giving back to her community and therefore, launched the Sonia Boddie Promising Youth Leader Scholarship in 2014, where she annually awards two students from the Edgar T. Morris Primary in Tabernacle. She is a motivational speaker and columnist, and is very well respected for her no-nonsense commentaries tackling youth and social issues. In December 2015, she had the privilege of publishing her Spanish written essay “Is the International Decade for People of African Descent Enough?” in the Diplomacy magazine of Chile.
Ms. Boddie served with distinction as a Senior Tax Inspector with the Inland Revenue Department from January 2010 to June 2015 and is currently employed as a Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Aviation. She lives by the mantra, “There is no success without hard work.”