JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation Helps Students to Keep their Dreams Alive with Scholarships
As a result of the pandemic, there has been severe disruption to the school year, leaving parents, students, policy makers, school administrators and other education stakeholders still grappling to find the best approach to provide a quality education, in an equitable manner. Many anecdotal references indicate that students, across all levels of education, are being left behind, largely due to the increased financial fallout and hardships.
Final year student at the University of Technology, Jamaica, Shelice Anderson, was one such student who was on the verge of foregoing her final year, as her source of financing her education dissipated, when COVID-19 hit Jamaica. Her parents’ income had diminished, as her father was now unemployed and her mother’s meagre income, which comes from the sale of food items to construction workers, was further slashed, as some developers put projects on hold or downsized. With no income from her parents and supplemental income from summer employment programmes now stalled because of travel restrictions and closure or rationalizing of some of the overseas establishments that would normally employ summer workers, Shelice was without options to continue her university education.
Having been named as one of the 42 JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation scholarship recipients for the 2020/21 academic year, Shelice can now breathe a sigh of relief, as she is able to remain laser-focused on solidifying her goal of graduating with an honours degree and begin a career in accounting.
Kim Mair, CEO of JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation, notes, “It is stories like Shelice’s that make the Foundation happy to continue to support students from the primary to the tertiary level, through scholarships and/or bursaries. The positive transformation that can happen in the lives of these persons and the ripple effect it will have on families and communities, as these individuals unearth their greatness through education, is tremendous.” Adding, “This year, the Foundation was not able to provide as many scholarships, as we sought to also lend support to other initiatives geared towards some of our most vulnerable citizens whose daily lives were negatively impacted by COVID-19. Nevertheless, we made a deliberate effort to assist, especially, final year students whose ability to complete their programme would have been jeopardized by the increased financial fallout anticipated, as a result of the pandemic. This support, we believe, will afford them (the opportunity) to catapult to the next stage of their professional journey, seamlessly.”
While speaking at the virtual scholarship award ceremony for tertiary awardees, Douglas Lindo, member of the board of directors of the Foundation charged the students to be their brothers’ keeper and work together to build a better future as tomorrow’s leaders, especially in this time of uncertainty, “as together we are stronger.”
Transforming Lives Through Education
The underlying principle of transformation is deeply rooted in the scholarship process; as such, all recipients of the scholarship are also given the opportunity to participate in a transformational leadership workshop. This workshop, which will this year take place online, seeks to explore: self-awareness; reflection paradigm-shifting; critical-thinking; and visioning, among other areas. As further evidence of its commitment to transforming lives, the Foundation’s scholarship programme is geared towards bridging the financial gap and assist individuals to unearth their greatness, in spite of the academic accolades of the applicants. Patricia Sutherland, chairman of the Foundation, said, “As an organization, we recognize that this is a gap that is not readily being addressed by such programmes, resulting in a significant number of financially-challenged students not being able to benefit from the financial assistance available, because they are not in the top percentile of their class, although they are average or above-average students. As such, the Foundation’s scholarships considers the holistic applicant, including: strong leadership potential; involvement in several extracurricular activities or charitable organizations, combined with sufficient academic aptitude and the financial circumstances of the applicant.”
This year’s awardees are drawn from all the major local universities including University of the West Indies, Mona (UWI, Mona); University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Jamaica); Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA); and Northern Caribbean University (NCU); in addition to a few awards at the primary and secondary level. The scholarship covers the cost of tuition, books and/or other school-related expenses.
As a part of its mandate to develop youth, through education, the JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation has awarded over J$50 million in scholarships to approximately 200 students at primary, secondary, tertiary and special needs institutions, over the last five (5) years, using it as a vehicle for transformation and advancement. In addition, in response to the ongoing challenges in funding higher education, JMMB Group has rolled - out several initiatives, including: introducing a special loan offer, with the Mona School of Business & Management (MSBM) and Norman Manley Law School; and establishing endowments at the two major universities – The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech).