Educators complete Blockchain Essentials course

Educators complete Blockchain Essentials course

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — More than nine teachers recently completed the Blockchain Essentials ‘Teach-the-Teacher’ course hosted by the Bahamas Blockchain Business School (BBS), a local nonprofit dedicated to providing educational experiences about emerging technologies, including blockchain, Web 3.0, artificial intelligence, and other 21st-century human skills. 

The virtual course included a robust curriculum and introduced the educators to foundational blockchain concepts.

Lakeisha Rolle, Founder of The Financial Academy noted: “the course was well-structured and included easy-to-follow modules on blockchain concepts, practical blockchain solutions and useful cases illustrating how the infrastructure can be used to organize, store and share data among individuals and organizations across various industries.”

Participating educators represented institutions including Temple Christian High School, Boost Academy, Capstone Academy, and The Financial Academy. A separate cohort of executives and professors at BAMSI also participated in the course. 

“When we learned about the Blockchain Teach-the-Teacher program, we were keen to take part,” shared Sharleen Hanson, Director of Boost Academy. “We see Boost Academy as a school that stays ahead of the curve when it comes to innovative new concepts like blockchain and felt it important to stay on top of this technology ourselves so that we could confidently roll out the course to our staff. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to learn with other leaders in education.”

Minarda Thompson Powell, Principal of Capstone Academy, remarked that she participated in the course “to be able to give my students an opportunity to have knowledge that we don’t give to our students in the typical high school curriculum.” 

Founder Rhonda Eldridge and others in the community launched BBS in 2019 to bring community-building virtual learning through webinars and e-learning courses to students in underserved communities. The organization aims to “put a dent in the widening digital divide invariably impacting low-income families in The Bahamas and globally.” 

“We discovered as we reached out to neighborhood schools in the East Street South community several years ago that teachers wanted to be more familiar with blockchain and that access and inclusion were barriers to entry and participation. This learning inspired us to share more tech knowledge and resources with teachers, one of our most significant community stakeholders,” shared Eldridge. “The Blockchain Essentials Teach-the-Teacher course is the first of a suite of courses we will roll out specifically designed to empower educators.” 

In 2015, Rhonda Eldridge – a veteran alternative investment authority, became keenly interested in blockchain. Driven by her fascination, she joined a RegTech Blockchain firm. She began sharing how blockchain would transform the alternative investment industry with many not-yet-convinced and puzzled finance professionals, investment banks, and asset managers.

Throughout her career, Rhonda has led various teams in the alternative investment space throughout the Americas. She is a former Regional and Country Managing Director of Fortis/ABN Amro Prime Fund Solutions. She has also served as the Regional Head of Business Development, Fund Services at UBS Global Asset Management, previously working as CFO of a family office, an auditor, and a banker.

As a blockchain knowledge source and enthusiast, Rhonda is leading the charge to decentralize digital knowledge in The Bahamas and worldwide. In this vein, she is an active curator-member-administrator of various decentralized communities and has hosted and collaborated on 120+ events worldwide.

“At BBS, we have a community-building mindset grounded in the model ‘by community for community’ and will do everything we can to bridge the digital divide and help develop the next generation of Bahamian blockchain and Web 3.0 experts,” shared Eldridge.