Kenrie Hylton is a fourth-year doctoral student in information systems. His hobbies include computer and board games, and he enjoys technology and innovation. He is the chair of the computer and information sciences department at Northern Caribbean University. His philosophy on life is “Anything can be achieved with the help of God and through diligent work.” One of his favorite quotes is “Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”
I chose to attend NSU because its doctoral program in information systems aligned with my academic and professional interests, and it was flexible enough to accommodate my extremely complicated life. When I started the program, I was living in New York, working in Jamaica and still able to attend classes in Florida.
My career has been dedicated to technology and one of the hallmarks thus far has been my involvement in the Imagine Cup competition. The Imagine Cup is an annual global technology competition sponsored by Microsoft to provide students with a platform to showcase their software development and technical skills. It is like a technology version of the FIFA World Cup. One of the primary purposes of the competition is to have young, brilliant minds across the globe working on solutions to the world’s most challenging problems.
Each year students compete in their respective regions for the privilege of representing their country in the world finals of the event. I was introduced to the competition in 2005. I challenged a group of students to get involved and subsequently led them to win the regional finals that were held in Santo Domingo that year. Being crowned regional champions qualified us to represent our country, Jamaica, as well as the wider Caribbean and Central American region at the world finals in Japan later that year.
In 2007, I assembled another team and led them in the development of an innovative cross-language e-learning solution that provided a host of useful tools to enhance distance education. Our team again took the top spot at the regionals, and then traveled to Seoul, South Korea for the world finals. Despite being pitted against some of the perceived top-renowned technology giants such as China, India, U.S. and the U.K., our team from Jamaica outclassed the competition in each round to eventually secure third place in this prestigious event. This was truly a monumental achievement that highlighted the technical skills and aspirations of the smallest nation to qualify for the world finals.
In 2010, the Imagine Cup challenged us to develop technology solutions to address the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. Undaunted by the difficult task ahead and still thirsting for the top prize, with a new team we again stepped up to the challenge. This time we competed for the coveted Interoperability Award, one of the competition’s most technical categories that demands a high level of skill and expertise from contenders. Our team went against more than 90 teams from around the world. The odds were stacked against us as only three teams would be selected from this pool of elite technologists. There were many who doubted that we could ever succeed with such limited resources and the seemingly insurmountable competition.
However, with God’s help and a lot of hard work, our team developed a software solution that led to their selection as one of the finalists — an amazing and significant accomplishment. We then traveled to Warsaw, Poland for the final round where, our team won the Interoperability Award. In so doing, we demonstrated that Jamaica has among its human resources bright, adept and highly-skilled technology experts. The accomplishment is a source of pride for the nation. We were consequently bestowed many accolades, including being recognized by the prime minister and honored by Jamaica’s governor general.
I’m grateful for the structure of NSU’s program, which afforded me the opportunity to work and study while still being able to engage in these significant life-changing events. These triumphs have brought Jamaica a lot of positive publicity. Moreover, they serve as a means of motivating young adults across the region to strive for excellence, as well as develop a mindset that they too can successfully compete with the best and brightest from around the world. My desire is that these feats can inspire many others to aspire for excellence. I hope that through my efforts, others can be encouraged to see in themselves the potential for even greater success.
