Monthly Archives: August 2020

Jeffrey Campbell, better known as Agent Sasco, engages scholarship recipients in a motivational talk at the JN Foundation Scholarship Reception held last September.

Thirty-five students were awarded five-year scholarships by the JN Foundation, in recognition of their outstanding performance in this year’s Primary Exit Profile (PEP). The cohort consists of one recipient from each parish and county, while 18 are children of employees of The Jamaica National Group. 

Concurrently, more than 100 other students, who are at various stages in their five-year scholarship award, will have their scholarship renewed for the new school year.

Onyka Barrett Scott, general manager at the JN Foundation, pointed out that hundreds of students at the secondary level have been benefitting from the scholarship programme since its inception in 1983.

“Despite the various challenges that we are all experiencing right now, the JN Foundation is pleased to continue support for the education of our future generation and to celebrate their excellence,” said Barrett Scott.

“This year’s cohort is one of a kind, as they are facing a scenario for which none of us could have prepared them. The COVID-19 pandemic has created some amount of anxiety for the new school year; and this will certainly call for a lot focus on the part of our scholarship recipients,” she related. 

Marshalee Powell, a single parent of Barbary Hall in St. Elizabeth, and mother of 11-year-old Arriana Hewitt, who emerged the JN Foundation scholar for St. Elizabeth, welcomed the scholarship award.  A worker in the tourism industry, Powell was laid off in March due to slow business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Getting this scholarship is a big deal. I’m overjoyed,” she said, adding that she was optimistic that her daughter would have been awarded the scholarship due to her consistent high academic performance.

Arriana, a former student of Black River Primary and Infant School, achieved a placement score of 345 to earn a place at Hampton High School.  She is equally overjoyed about the scholarship award and vowed to continue her high academic performance at her new school.

Barrett Scott disclosed that more than 100 persons had applied for the scholarships via the JN Foundation website.  However, as part of the eligibility for the scholarship, the child or parent was required to be a member, customer, or client of the Jamaica National Group for at least a year.  

In addition to the PEP scholarship awards this year, 16 students at the tertiary level, attending The University of the West Indies, the University of Technology, Jamaica, the Northern Caribbean University, and the University College of the Commonwealth, will receive financial assistance to pursue their studies.

With the exemption of the scholarship award to the University College of the Commonwealth (UCC), which is reserved for a JN employee, The JN Foundation’s one-year tertiary scholarship can be accessed through the scholarship office at the respective universities mentioned.

Arriana Hewitt, JN Foundation Scholar for St. Elizabeth

When Arriana Hewitt placed second in the end-of-year academic results in Grade Four at the Black River Primary and Infant school, she cried. Since grade one, she has been at the top of the class and being unable to achieve her usual scholastic feat left her heartbroken.

Her persistence to maintain her high academic performance over the years has borne fruit, as she gained a placement score of 345 in the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), which earned her a place at the Hampton School, the top school of her choice.  In recognition of her accomplishment, she emerged as the JN Foundation Scholar for the parish of St. Elizabeth and was awarded a five-year scholarship by the organisation.

“I was extremely glad, I was so overjoyed,” said eleven-year-old Arriana, a resident of Barbary Hall in the parish.

Despite doing extremely well in PEP, Arriana related that she felt doubtful that she would be awarded the scholarship, when her mother applied for it on the JN Foundation’s website.

“I believe that a lot of persons would apply for it,” she related.

Arriana, along with 34 other top PEP performers across the country, were recognised as JN Foundation 2020 scholars. The cohort consists of one recipient from each parish and county, while 18 are children of employees of The Jamaica National Group. 

The scholarship award was not a surprise to her grade six teacher, Nicolette Samuels McIntosh.

“Arriana has been a high achiever and a top student at our school, who doesn’t give up easily. Whatever she puts her mind to, she goes for it.  She is friendly and gets along well with her peers,” the educator pointed out.

Samuels McIntosh also disclosed that Arriana achieved perfect scores in the PEP Ability Test in grade six; and highly proficient rating in mathematics, science and social studies in PEP, while in grade five.

A prefect for the past three years, Arriana proved to be an all-rounder, who also did well in extra-curricular activities. She was captain of the schools’ challenge quiz team; a member of the debating team; and the math club. She also excelled in sports, as a member of the netball and the track and field teams.

“Don’t only focus on schoolwork; also pursue extra-curricular activities. When you focus only on schoolwork, you will get tired of it, and your brain will become lazy,” Arriana opined.

Outside of school-related activities, she enjoys reading; cooking her favourite meal of fried chicken and rice and peas; and playing dominoes, a game, she mastered by frequently observing her uncle and his friends play.

“I know how to ‘read’the game. I beat [won] my uncle twice,” she related.

Arriana, who is keen on becoming a nurse or paediatrician, is looking forward to attending her new school.  Already, her determined spirt is evident.

“I want to come first in class,” she said.

Like her peers, who are entering high school in October, the uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is a concern.  However, she explained that, if her new school resorts to online classes, she will be able to cope.

“I had ZOOM classes in Grade Six,” she related. “I am also confident that I’ll be able to participate in online classes at Hampton. I don’t want anyone to catch it [the virus], because many people are dying from it.”

The scholarship awards marks the 37^th year since the inception of the JN Scholarship Programme in which numerous students have benefitted from five-year scholarships. They are required to maintain at least a 70 per cent average for the renewal of their award, each year. 

Troy Bygrave (right), business relationship and sales manager presents electronic hand sanitizer to a representative of the St Thomas Parish Library. Sanitizers were also presented to the Morant Bay and Yallahs Fire Stations and the Morant Bay Police Station.

The Jamaica National Group, through its JN Circle Chapters, distributed some $9 million to fund projects and deliver grocery vouchers, to provide assistance for persons at the community level, who have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds were made available through a Member Welfare Fund, which was established in March 2020, to deliver relief to those in need; and provide support to persons and organisations assisting the vulnerable; as well as, persons on the frontline, helping to control and treat COVID-19.

Claudine Allen, member ombudsman of The Jamaica National Group; and lead of the JN Circle, stated that the Fund has assisted the organisation to reach more persons who are in need.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has left the most vulnerable of our society in need. Therefore, this initiative was deliberately designed to assist those persons who have been affected,” Miss Allen informed.

She noted that the Fund was being administered by the JN Foundationand the JN Circle; to provide grant funding for initiatives, which seek to bolster the efforts of communities in the management of the COVID-19 crisis.

One beneficiary from the Fund was The Jamaica Constabulary Force in Christiana, Manchester, which was assisted to keep its team safe, while they were on the job.

The supplies included masks, hand sanitizers, detergents, and a snack counter for officers, working on the late shift. They were presented to the police, courtesy of the JN Circle Christiana.

“This gesture is timely. COVID-19 is being taken seriously by the police officers here; and, as part of the first responders to the pandemic, we are very exposed. I say a big thank you to JN Circle for this donation,” Inspector Simon McCormack, of the Christiana Police Station, said. 

Alethia Peart, business relationship and sales manager, at JN Bank Christiana, said that the police were identified for assistance, given their first responder role, in the fight against COVID-19.

The JN Circle Morant Bay made presentations of electronic hand sanitizers to the Morant Bay and Yallahs Fire Stations, Morant Bay Police Station and the St Thomas Parish Library on June 29.

All 16 JN Circles are currently identifying needs within their communities, arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and are seeking ways to alleviate those issues through the JN Member Welfare Fund.

To date, through the fund, the JN Group has contributed $1.5 million to the Nurses Association of Jamaica, to assist the country’s nurses in their fight against the spread of COVID-19. The work of the National Council for Senior Citizens, the umbrella organisation what provides support to senior citizens, was also enhanced by a contribution of $1 million, through the Member Welfare Fund. The Police Federation and other communities across the country have also benefitted from the Fund.