EFTA01898218

Jeffrey Epstein, New York Philanthropist, Heralds the First Student Radio Station in the Caribbean. The prominent New York financier, Jeffrey Epstein, with offices in New York City and St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands has heralded the launch of the first college run radio station to air across the US Virgin Islands. Staffed almost entirely by students, the new radio station, WUVI, represents the University of the Virgin Islands, and covers a wide range of local content from Caribbean music, college events and politics to syndicated news programs. Jeffrey Epstein's VI Foundation which is based on the island of St. Thomas supports education and youth programs across the US Virgin Islands and has been an avid supporter of the US Virgin Island's Department of Education. The foundation is closely following the station's success. "When students are empowered with the opportunity to shape their education, their motivation and learning curves skyrocket. And student listeners will be equally inspired," Jeffrey Epstein asserted. In addition to funding education, the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation has also funded young programs in the arts, sports and humanities, such as the St. Thomas Baseball Explorers and the Rising Steel Youth Orchestra. The station's founder, Alexander Randall, is the chairman of UVI's Department of Music, Communication, Arts and Theater and headed a class on radio production. Radio students were given a weekly time on the local broadcaster Radio 1, to report news and collected opinions. Eventually, an impressed UVI President David Hall approached Randall about creating a school station. UVI was finally awarded a Title III grant by the Education Department in October. Today, the station reaches all of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Dominica, according to a UVI press release. In the future, WUVI plans to require students to complete two introductory courses before getting involved in the station's production. Students will be taught the basics: the science of sound, microphone use, and editing, before ever stepping foot in the studio. Other items on the station's wish-list include a St. Croix studio, multilanguage news reports targeted to the different nationalities on St. Thomas and a switch to solar-powered radio waves. The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation supports a wide range of initiatives across the US Virgin Islands. Founded in 2000, the foundation's main focus continues to be the support of science and science education. Jeffrey Epstein is a native New Yorker, a financier and a science and education philanthropist. In 2003, he established the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University with a $30 million dollar grant. He is a former member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, Rockefeller University in New York, the New York Academy of Science and sits on the board of the Mind, Brain and Behavior Committee at Harvard University. EFTA_R1_00325064 EFTA01898218