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Eleven-year-old Jada Myers, first-form student at Hampton School, who formerly attended Top Hill Primary, is not only overjoyed that she was placed at the school of her first choice in the recent Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), but that she also achieved her dream of receiving a five-year scholarship.

The Yardley Chase resident and former head girl, who scored an average of 97.8 per cent in the GSAT, is the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Foundation Scholar for the parish of St Elizabeth.

“I feel accomplished and happy about being awarded a scholarship because I worked hard to get one. In addition, my teacher and family were hoping that I would receive a scholarship; therefore, I’m really glad that my hardwork has paid off,” she said.

Jada is one of 37 outstanding performers in this year’s GSAT who were awarded five-year scholarships, and will be officially recognised as JN Foundation Scholars at a scholarship awards reception to be held at theorganisation’s chief office on Sunday.

TOP STUDENTS

The annual awards, which was previously managed by the parent organisation, JNBS, up to 2014, has been in place for the past 33 years. To date, hundreds of students have been awarded scholarships to pursue theireducation at the secondary and tertiary levels.

“Annually, we recognise a top-performing student in each parish; and a top student in each county, who is a member of the JN School Savers Programme; as well as the children of JN Group employees who attain a minimum average of 85 per cent,” Saffrey Brown, general manager of the JN Foundation, pointed out.

“The parish and county scholarships are awarded to students based on the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, while JN employees apply on behalf of their children, once they attain the minimum average grade,” she explains.

Miss Brown noted that this year’s scholarship awardees join some 102 existing five-year scholarship holders, who were issued with awards over the past four years.

The awards are renewable annually and JN Foundation Scholars must maintain an average of 70 per cent for the renewal of their scholarship each year, during the five-year period.

Donna-Marie McDonald, parent of Stephan Griffiths, who received a scholarship in 2011 to attend Campion College, expressed her gratitude to the JN Foundation in an email recently.

She wrote, “The process for disbursement of funds was hassle-free and the JN representatives were courteous and professional. We did our part; and JN did their part by honouring their commitment on time, all the time.”

The JN Foundation scholarship programme also provides scholarships to students at the tertiary level.

Annually, 15 students attending the University of the West Indies, the University of Technology, Jamaica and the Northern Caribbean University are awarded a one-year scholarship to pursue undergraduate degrees in specificdisciplines. Tertiary students are required to apply for the JNBS Foundation’s one-year scholarship through the scholarship office at their respective university. One scholarship to the University College of the Caribbean is also extended to a JN employee.

LEGACY SCHOLARSHIP

Additionally, for the past three years, three Jamaicans who successfully matriculated at the University of Birmingham Business School in the United Kingdom have also benefited from an 18-month full JN Legacy Scholarship.

This year’s GSAT Parish Scholarship recipients are Amri Hanson, Brandon Cheddesingh, Cardiff McKenzie, Dania Creary, Gabrielle Barrett, Jada Myers, Jada Glenn, Kentsania Samuels, Kyle Dunn, Leojai Hibbert, Romaine Barrett, Sashaunna Lamb, Shavecia Cole and Teiona Jones.

The JN School Savers Scholarship awardees, at the county level, are Daisja Langley, Alex Cephas and Ashae Whorms.

JN Employees’ Children Scholarship recipients are Aaron Robotham, Ajani Scarlett, Akeil Vassel, Alicia Campbell, Anya Gray, Arianna Eppes, Daena Wynter, Danielle Griffiths, Davian Skinner, Enidro Hall, Gabrielle Dixon, Jacey Henry, Jordan Palmer, Justin Williams, Keona McIntosh, Kiana-Jade Blackwood, Kymani Scarlett, Paris Campbell, Sydonae England and Zachary Gordon.

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The JN Foundation’s Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI) mounted the first in the series of its Let’s Talk Social Enterprise 101 sessions, at the Grog Shoppe, Devon House on July 28.

Hosted by a fellow participant in the SEBI cohort, Empress Golding, the event was conceptualized to wet the appetites of persons and groups who are interested in the social enterprise sector.

Saffrey Brown, General Manager, JN Foundation , says that a part of the mandate for SEBI is to provide capacity building for the social sector; and to equip persons with the appropriate tools and strategies to maximize the efficiency and management of their operations.

To facilitate those objectives, the session was used as a medium to officially launch a Social Enterprise Toolkit for aspiring and existing social entrepreneurs and affiliates.

“Although SEBI recently expanded its group of participants, the project is mandated to build capacity beyond the current 21 Social Enterprises,” Brown  pointed out.

She further said  “this was a strategic decision coming out of our experience in the execution of the first phase of SEBI, which exposed the need for accessible resources to guide persons to operate sustainable and profitable social enterprises.”

The toolkit titled, Social Enterprise 101 is the second publication for the JN Foundation, which directly targets the social enterprise sector; and Opal Whyte, Project Manager, SEBI said that, “this edition documents a practical guide for stakeholders, about how to establish, operate and manage a successful social enterprise.”

She affirmed that, “with increased recognition of the social sector, it is anticipated that the event will lead to a fresh approach and interest in the operation and management of social enterprises.”

SEBI is a collaborative effort between the JN Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development  (USAID), geared to foster the development and growth of the social sector through mentorship of entrepreneurs operating social enterprises.

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DR Renee Rattray is a forthright, confident educator and nurturer who believes that everyone deserves an opportunity to fulfil their purpose and greatness within.

Born and raised in Red Hills, St Andrew, where she was known as ‘Mr Miller’s granddaughter’, Dr Rattray told

All Woman that her early life was filled with fun from attending church at Red Hills Baptist to school at Immaculate Conception High, where she was deeply involved in community service and leadership initiatives.

“Everything I have done has been about helping people to be better. From very young I have had great examples in my family and parents who have been helping people in the community or in their work. I’m driven by people and making their lives better.”

Dr Rattray shared that she would go on excursions with her parents every summer to learn about Jamaica, and also watch her mother care for people and help change their lives in her role as a probation officer, motivational speaker and social worker.

And so, with positive examples around, her course in life was charted, but it took one family member’s reality for her to truly realise her purpose.

“I had a cousin who lived with us and we had to go to Mico Care Centre to help to give him support. I saw how people helped him to improve, so I became interested in special education and decided to teach. I’ve always had some kind of inclination to lead and guide people. I’ve always known I could influence people, and that’s what teaching is,” she said.

After leaving sixth form, Dr Rattray told her father she would not pursue a career in law — much to his disapproval — and became a trained special education teacher at The Mico University College. She then did a degree in psychology at the University of the West Indies and went on to Columbia University to do a master’s in educational psychology, then pursued a doctorate in education from Nova Southeastern University.

Currently the head of learning and development with responsibility for education programmes at the Jamaica National Group, Dr Rattray has also served as one of the first inspectors with the National Education Inspectorate, project manager for PALS (Peace and Love in Schools), and principal of St Andrew Preparatory School — an experience she cherishes.

“At St Andrew Prep I was able to touch the lives of so many amazing little people with so much light and potential. I had fun and enjoyed everything about being there. I was mentored by the late Madge Broderick and she was an excellent administrator — very traditional in some ways, and a renaissance woman. She was a great person to introduce me to school leadership,” she said.

Having also been involved with the University Singers and Cathy Levy and Friends — experiences which taught her discipline, teamwork and the value of dreaming big — Dr Rattray exposed the children to similar pursuits.

“Even though we did stuff in the performing arts, she (Levy) taught us more than anything that it was really about discipline, teamwork, confidence, valuing yourself and dreaming,” she recalled.

“So I did a lot of work in the performing arts and the students got involved in everything possible, and I ensured it was a rounded place and a family environment.”

Since 2010, in her tenure at Jamaica National, Dr Rattray has managed to lead the Centres of Excellence programme — a school improvement initiative — and the iLead project which supports 10 schools in Region Two (St Thomas, St Mary and Portland) with technical capacity building and financial support to help them improve.

Also on the board of the Maxfield Park Children’s Home, Edufocal and the National College for Educational Leadership, Dr Rattray is passionate about fighting injustice and the lack of opportunity that some children have.

I get very angry when I hear that people have low expectations of our children and limit them or put them in a box and say that they’re not able to do what they can do. I’m intolerant of the system that doesn’t set our children up for success. I’m wanting to do everything in my power to make sure every child in Jamaica benefits from the best, because our potential is limitless and that’s a major passion of mine,” she said.

She’s also intolerant of belittlement and is big on empowering women.

“I remember Maya Angelou saying that she doesn’t allow people to be disrespectful of other people in her space. I’m learning and practising to do it to make sure that if it doesn’t come from a place of love, I don’t entertain it in my space,” she said.

Dr Rattray added: “I don’t have experiences with women where there is catfighting. We keep saying women don’t get along, but we need to stop saying that and fulfilling the prophecy. It’s something I don’t invite into my space and I believe there is power in that connection, and there is so much more we can do together than apart.”

A mother to a pair of twins, Dr Rattray loves London, Treasure Beach, Negril, Portland, and is inspired by her mother and Nelson Mandela because of his will to forgive. Her daily mantra is ‘I am enough’.

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More than 350 leaders from schools across Jamaica will be equipped with skills to raise stands at their institutions at a summit to be staged by the Jamaica National (JN) Foundation under its iLead Programme.

The event is scheduled for July 25 to 26 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.

Director of Education Programmes at the JN Foundation, Dr. Renée Rattray, who was addressing a JIS Think Tank on July 19, explained that iLead is a school-improvement initiative that the JN Foundation has undertaken in 10 schools that are in need of support based on the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) report.

She informed that the summit, to be held under the theme ‘Innovate. Impact. Lead: Join the Education Revolution’, will target principals, vice-principals, board members, heads of Parent-Teacher Associations and other leaders.

The two-day event will kick off with an opening ceremony, with Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, expected to deliver remarks.

Noted education expert and award-winning teacher and principal from Philadelphia in the United States, Salome Thomas-EL, will give the main address on the topic: ‘Failure is Never an Option’.

Dr. Rattray informed that Mr. Thomas-El is a “turnaround principal,” who has transformed several schools.  A chess expert, he uses the strategic board game to reach children in the inner cities, she noted further.

Other overseas presenters include: Science Professor at Columbia University, Dr.  Christopher Emdin, who will present on the topic ‘When Innovation and Magic Collide in Education’.  Dr. Emdin uses hip-hop to teach science to teachers and students.

Instructional leadership specialists Pete Hall and Taj Jenson from Atlanta, Georgia, with provide lessons on how to manage teaching and learning.

The local presenters include Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Maurice Smith, who will speak on the theme ‘Call to Action: Linking Central Office Practices to School Self-valuation and Improvement’.

‘Leading with the Big Picture in Mind’ will be the focus of the presentation by Leadership Consultant and Motivational speaker, Dr. Nsombi Jaja, while Leadership Consultant at Jamalysha Training Company, Jill Chambers will present on ‘Let the Revolution Begin: Bringing it all Together.’

There will also be panel discussions on the topics ‘Turnaround Leadership in Action’; ‘Innovate. Impact. Lead: Lessons for School Leaders’; and ‘Quick Wins: Bringing out Staff and Students’ Best’.

Educational Development Consultant and former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Technology (UTech), Dr. Blossom O’Mealley-Nelson will moderate a discussion session on the topic ‘Enter the Boardroom: Creating and Sustaining a Highly Effective School Board’.

“We are expecting to have robust exchanges and interactive sessions among participants and facilitators,” Dr. Rattray said.

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The JN Foundation is recruiting revolutionaries… education revolutionaries, that is.

Dr. Renee Rattray, Director of Education Programmes at JN Foundation is not only passionate about education. She also has a clear vision of what is needed. Essentially, this is: We need to do things differently. We cannot keep doing the same thing over and over and getting the same poor results. And we need to act urgently! We owe it to generations of young Jamaicans, don’t we?

I firmly believe the education system is failing our young people. We cannot keep pushing them through a production line, coming out the other end still struggling with literacy and numeracy issues, still lacking in self esteem and life skills. Every child has potential for something – not necessarily an academic genius, but that spark of creativity and imagination that makes each child unique. A truly “wholistic” education can bring this out. I personally was fortunate enough to have benefited from such an education through the Froebel philosophy. Educator Friedrich Froebel said (and perhaps this is what we are searching for):

“Protect the new generation: do not let them grow up into emptiness and nothingness, to the avoidance of good hard work, to introspection and analyzation without deeds, or to mechanical actions without thought and consideration. Guide the young away from the harmful chase after outer things and the damaging passion for distraction.”

One of the presenters at the School Leadership Summit next week is Dr. Christopher Emdin of Columbia University, a science advocate and founder of the #HipHopEd social media movement. He’s an innovator (clearly); you can look up his TED Talks on blending hip hop with education to reach our young people. It is hoped that a similar approach may be taken with dancehall. Yes! That’s revolutionary!

Then there is Salome Thomas-EL, an award-winning teacher and principal, currently the Head of School at Thomas Edison Charter School in Wilmington, Delaware. “Every child needs someone to be crazy about them,” he says. Throughout his teaching career he has helped children to overcome the barriers of poverty, violence and simply being ignored to achieve their dreams through learning and through their lives beyond school. He is passionate and caring. Revolutionaries are passionate!

Pete Hall sounds like a fantastic team-builder, trainer and coach, with a total of 19 years’ experience in teaching (12 as a principal). He is someone with energy, who can motivate teachers. Revolutionaries need motivation and encouragement at all times, don’t they?

The Summit is  not going to be a lot of speeches and nothing else, though. Each session will be highly interactive, with participants coming away with practical strategies and plans that they have worked out over the two days with other education leaders that they have networked with. Why did the JN Foundation choose the concept of a “revolution”? I hope it is clear that they are seeking to energize people into action, into the implementation of new ideas. Passion leading to action! That’s what revolutionaries do!

Three amazing Jamaican women will be pivotal to the event: Kasan Troupe, Principal of Denbigh High School; Dr. Renee Rattray of JN Foundation; and Nsombi Jaja, quality management consultant. They are all vibrant speakers and motivators, and if you have not met them before…Well, educational leaders, principals, student leaders…you should! Just get on board and absorb that collective energy!

Oh, by the way – Happy Nelson Mandela Day! And let us remember these words from the former president of South Africa and 1993 Nobel Peace Prize laureate:

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

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THE Jamaica National Business Foundation hopes to continue its thrust to revolutionise the education sector when it hosts a School Leadership Summit on July 25 and 26.

“What we are trying to do is establish a movement of change. We’ve been involved already in leadership in a really big way through Jamaica National in terms of the projects that we have done, the Centres of Excellence and the iLead Programme, and our focus has been energising, empowering, equipping leaders to truly transform the education system and their schools and to effect meaningful change,” Dr Renee Rattray, director of education programmes at JN Foundation, told journalists at yesterday’s

Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange at the newspaper’s head office in Kingston.

Expressing confidence that the summit will energise participants, Dr Rattray said the event is targeting all leaders in education, including school board members, principals, vice-principals, senior teachers, middle managers, student leaders, and Ministry of Education officials.

She said the summit is aimed at introducing and educating participants on innovative practices in the sector worldwide.

“We’re really keen on bringing school leaders together to share best practices. We’re going to have many panel discussions with leaders who are actually in the field and who have turned their schools around, as well as with leaders who are veterans and are doing really exciting things,” she explained.

“We have a panel discussion with young innovators who are going to be telling school leaders the kind of environment they need in order to have students thrive and become entrepreneurs and innovators like they are,” Dr Rattray continued.

She noted that there will also be ground-breaking initiatives that will excite participants in training.

“We have two really great international speakers, one of them is Dr Christopher Emdin, who is from Columbia [University] and his research has surrounded using hip-hop to teach science. He’s a science professor and he has a project called Science Genius and it’s a competition that we’re actually going to be partnering on… a competition where the students are going to be using dancehall to teach science, to come up with science concepts and having a really great battle and kind of like a clash around science,” Dr Rattray said.

Participants will also benefit from presentations from several local and international speakers during the two-day event, which will be themed ‘Join the Education Revolution: Innovate, Impact, Lead’. The summit will also feature principals who have turned their schools around, such as Salome Thomas-El, head of school at the Thomas Edison Charter School in Delaware in the US, who will be the keynote speaker on the opening day of the summit.

An award-winning teacher and principal, Thomas-El, has had a track record of assisting challenging young people in the US to achieve success through chess. An acclaimed chess coach, he assisted students at Vaux Middle School in the US to be recognised as eight-time National Chess Champions.

Dr Rattray, as well as Kasan Troupe, principal of Denbigh High School — recognised by the National Education Inspectorate as the most improved secondary school in Jamaica — and Dr Nsombi Jaja, management consultant and change leader, will be the local presenters at the summit.

Dr Rattray said R Danny Williams, who has been instrumental in helping to shape Jamaica College, and other chairmen, are slated to participate with a focus on school boards.

“We believe that with governance the buck really stops at the top, and the school board sets the tone on how things are managed and how operations have been in the school. So we want to shed some light on that issue to bring it to the fore, to have persons who are interested in becoming members of boards, or who are presently serving on boards, to help them to understand the importance of their roles and to help to give them insight as to how they can improve on what they do,” Dr Rattray reasoned.

She encouraged school leaders to register.

“We believe that the time for change is now, and we can’t continue to do the same things in the same ways because it hasn’t been getting us far enough,” she said.

The summit is slated to be held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

School leaders and school board members who plan to register for the event may visit

www.www.jnfoundation.com and clicking the link, ‘register here’, to complete the online registration form. They may also call 926-1344, extension 5164, to register.

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Marlon Brown was caught in a traffic build-up on the Llandovery main road, St Ann, as he headed for work in a taxi on March 1 this year. His first concern was about how the delay would affect his commute to St Ann’s Bay.

A firefighter based at the St Ann’s Bay station, Brown was on his way to drop his daughter off at a day care centre before reporting for the 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. shift.

“I called out to persons to establish reasons for the blockade. Finally, one guy shouted back ‘a just two truck crash up the road, and one man stuck’,” he recalled.

Once he realised that a crash had occurred, Brown’s First Responder training kicked in and he went into action. “Immediately my training chipped in and I called the fire station and told them to dispatch the unit as there was an accident”, he explained.

Brown was one of 15 volunteers in St Ann who had benefited from training in Emergency Medical Response (EMR) last year, as part of the First Responders programme of the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Foundation.

The programme equipped residents living in communities surrounding the St Ann leg of the north coast Highway with the skills to provide effective emergency medical care at the scene of road crashes. The main objective is to reduce loss of life, lessen pain and suffering and promote the optimal recovery of victims.

Brown acknowledged that while fire fighters receive basic first aid and CPR training as a part of their job, “the training provided in the First Responder programme was more in-depth and specific to motor vehicle crashes and medical emergencies.”

Brown cautiously left his daughter with a fellow passenger and headed for the crash scene. Upon arrival he observed that two trucks had collided head-on and three persons were trapped in the vehicles, while one person was on the roadway.

“One person was unconscious. He wasn’t responding to anything, neither sound nor touch,” Brown said, “Just the fact that I seemed to know what I was doing, the people gathered and allowed me to take charge of the scene.”

His training now fully engaged, Brown assessed the scene and delegated responsibilities to persons in order to help. “I later recognised that an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) was on the scene and, although he was a trained EMT, he allowed me to manage the scene,” he said.

“One man had an injury to his head and I didn’t have anything to help with his wound. I got the cleanest thing I could find, which was a towel, and applied pressure to the wound before moving on to another victim who was aware, but was in initial shock,” he explained.

Quick action
Due to Brown’s quick action the scene was secured by the time the police and fire service arrived and the lives of two of the victims in the crash were saved. “In the end I gave the best I could provide, which was to help to save two lives,” Brown added.

Tyrone Llewellyn, district officer with the Jamaica Fire Brigade, who responded to the crash, commended Brown for his actions that made the job of the emergency response teams much easier, due to his organisation of the scene. “When I arrived he provided information about the casualties, who were present, those who were sent to the hospital, the severity of their injuries and the damage to the vehicles,” Llewellyn said.

Llewellyn also noted that Brown’s post-crash care activities were effective in preventing further injuries to the victims. “That assisted us, because in cases such as this one patient handling is important to ensure that we prevent further injury. What he did on the scene made our job easier in terms of knowing what we had to do,” the district officer stated.

The First Responders project is part of the JN Foundation’s Road Safety programme, in partnership with St. John Ambulance, the FIA Road Safety Grant Programme and the Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA). It is designed to improve the behaviour of road users and enhance post-crash care, two of the pillars established under the United Nation’s Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 2020 as a framework for improving global road safety.

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EDUCATIONAL leadership professional Dr Renee Rattray says there is a “fierce urgency” for stronger leadership in the nation’s schools if education is to be used as one of the planks to support the economic thrust for national development.

Speaking ahead of the upcoming leadership summit being organised by the JN Foundation for school leaders from July 25-26 in Kingston, Dr Rattray, who is also director, education programmes at the foundation, underscored that strong leadership is a critical factor for school performance, noting that it directly influences many areas in the school environment, including teaching and learning.

“Research reveals that outstanding schools are those with strong leadership which is focused, sets standards, and drives a culture of high expectations and accountability,” she said.

She pointed out that based on the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) data, “Underperforming schools in Jamaica all suffer from weak leadership.”

The NEI, based on its 2015 findings, noted that leadership is unsatisfactory or in need of immediate support in 41 per cent of high schools in Jamaica, up from 40 per cent in its 2014 report. Leadership was satisfactory in 47 per cent of schools compared to 52 per cent in 2014 and only 11 per cent of high schools were deemed to have good leadership structures. Only one per cent had exceptional leadership.

“And those that are deemed satisfactory are really meeting the bare minimum,” Dr Rattray, who is also former school inspector with the NEI, indicated.

“We cannot continue to operate our schools and conduct teaching and learning in the same way that we have always done. It is not working. We must do things differently and act urgently. We, therefore, need an education revolution.”

The educator conducts the iLead programme, a comprehensive three-year school leadership programme involving ten schools in the parishes of Portland, St Mary and St Thomas, which is being implemented under a partnership between the JN Foundation and the Ministry of Education.

“Some great things are happening in our schools and classrooms across this country; but in too many places there is this one-size-fits-all approach. How then do we expect to achieve creativity and innovation?” she questioned. “We need an injection of disruptive leadership in our education system.”

Carefully explaining that school leadership was not confined to principals and vice-principals, she indicated that boards and middle managers such as grade coordinators and heads of departments also need to display solid leadership.

Against that background, she said the upcoming JN Foundation School Leadership Summit is organised under the theme Join the Education Revolution: Innovate. Impact. iLead, will provide school leaders with the opportunity to exchange ideas, infuse their best practices, and renew their commitment to supporting their staff, as well as improve the outcomes for students.

Participants will also benefit from insightful presentations from several local and international speakers during the two-day event, including turnaround school principals such as Salome Thomas-El, head of school at the Thomas Edison Charter School in Delaware, United States, who will be the keynote speaker on the opening day of the summit.

Science Professor at New York’s prestigious Columbia University, Chris Emdin, who is well-known for his use of hip hop music to build interest in science among young people in the US; and US-based turnaround principal and motivational coach Pete Hall, will also speak at the summit, as well as local experts Kasan Troupe, who led Denbigh High School in Clarendon to success; Dr Nsombi Jaja, management consultant and change leader, as well as Dr Rattray.

Well-known educator Dr Renee Rattray underscored that magic isn’t simply the figment of a child’s imagination, as she lifted the spirits of some 100 graduates from the Maxfield Park Primary School in East Central St Andrew, recently.

“In order to be successful, I must first believe in … ME,” said Rattray. “Success is impossible if you don’t understand who you are first,” she added as she defined the latter ‘M’.

The education programmes director at the JN Foundation, reminded the students that it was important for them to be confident, despite their circumstances, even when others relate negative and disempowering stories about them and their community.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that because you are from Maxfield, you can’t do well,” she implored the students.

“With the right attitude, you can determine your altitude,” she maintained, defining the letter ‘A’ in Magic.

“You must believe ‘I can’ and ‘I will’. And, by being positive about yourself and others, you will always be able to achieve,” stressed Rattary.

BE DETERMINED

She encouraged the children to adopt an attitude of determination, which she skilfully positioned as “Go Get it” to represent the letter ‘G’ in her word of the day.

“You have to be hungry for success. You have to want success so badly that you don’t pay attention to what anyone else says about you,” she said, while encouraging them to play by rules at all times.

“Do things the right way so that no one can ever question how you achieved your success; and, most of all, so that you can be proud when you look back at what you accomplished to get where you are,” she said.

She also inspired the children to be innovative, underscoring that they were not too young to develop ideas that can be meaningful and impactful.

“There are no human beings more creative than children. Use that big brain that God gave you; and instead of complaining, or looking at what your friends have, be grateful for what you have and make the best use of it.”

Finally, using the ‘C’ in magic, Rattray charged the youngsters to also be confident, to step out boldly and to stand up for what they believe no matter the cost.

Rattray urged the school leavers to also demonstrate care by supporting each other and others around them, advising them that they cannot achieve success all by themselves.

“There are persons who will help you, and others who you will need to help along the way, because when you do that, you will become the person you dream about being, and they will become the person they want to be. And, that is a positive way to build a caring community and the strong country you’ve always dreamed about.”

She concluded by engaging the students in the singing of the popular song My Dream by Nesbeth, urging the graduates to: “Dream big, children. Believe in yourselves; be positive about life; be determined; be creative; embrace life with confidence and care about others. Do all these things and you’ll find that in the end, you’ll make magic possible in your lives and the lives of others!”

THE positive relationship between literacy and reduced violence seems almost crystal clear when one observes the impact of the Learning Net Works (LNW) project of the “think-and-do” tank, Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA), and the Ministry of Health.

The project was launched in 2010 with vital support from the JN Foundation, which provided computers and funding to purchase the licence for the literacy software, AutoSkills. The devices were distributed to several inner-city communities and have changed the lives of young people, some of whom initially struggled to identify letters, but are now pursuing tertiary education.

Not all the students make it, VPA Executive Director Dr Elizabeth Ward admitted. However, she said most who have grasped the content of the software, display improved social skills, and are often less prone to violence than their peers.

“It seems they become a lot calmer, and this what I am really interested in,” the researcher said.

Dr Ward and her team established the LNW project against the background of the country’s continuously harsh social climate, made chronic by increasing crime and violence.

The records indicate that, with some 41 murders per 100,000 people, Jamaica has the fifth highest rate of murders in the world, falling behind Belize, which has the highest murder rate in the Caribbean Community, the expert pointed out. And it has been determined, she said, that many of Jamaica’s problems are rooted in lack of education.

“When you examine cohorts of students going through the educational system, by the time they reach grade nine, 27 per cent of them have dropped out,” said Dr Ward. “It is assumed that a lot of them have migrated, or have moved to another school, however, we know that many of them are on the street corners smoking,”

“More than 51 per cent of youngsters who were enrolled in high school did not sit or pass exams,” she continued, highlighting Ministry of Education data. “And the problem is more acute in western Jamaica, now faced with high levels of violence, where recent data indicates that the dropout rate is higher than in the Kingston Metropolitan Region.

“Western Jamaica has double the rate of high school drop- outs. Financial issues are high on the list as one of the contributory factors, but boredom in school is also high,” Dr Ward revealed. “Students are simply bored with the school curriculum, and it’s not meeting their needs.”

Conscious of this data, the epidemiologist and her team approached faith-based organisations and community centres to establish a series of facilities that would be positioned as learning centres to assist young people to improve themselves.

“We got the computers and Jamaica National donated the software,” said Dr Ward, as she chronicled the genesis of the project, which currently spans 10 facilities serving more than 20 inner-city communities in the Corporate Area, and the Source Resource sentre in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.

The project started with two learning centres at the Healthy Ones Lifestyle Youth (HOLY) Network on Barry Street in downtown Kingston; and in Rose Town, an inner- city community in south St Andrew.

“I’ve used the AutoSkills programme to take persons from zero up, and those same persons I’ve been able to sit and pass the HEART/NTA entry exam,” explained Rev Daval James Bell, who operates the HOLY Network, a facility which offers a variety of programmes for at-risk youth, ages 13 to 19 years old primarily, but extends to those 20 – 29 who are parents in Kingston’s inner cities.

Marvin and Dominic, are among some of the youngsters, who have emerged successfully after teaching themselves to read using the AutoSkills programme at the HOLY Network Centre. The two, who are children of well-known community dons, entered the facility as barely literate teens at age 14, but moved on to pursue tertiary education at a technical institute.

“Marvin joined us straight from the streets; and Dominic came from school, where he was about to be expelled,” Rev Bell recalled.

As the youngsters learned to read using the AutoSkills programme, Rev Bell also assisted them to pursue subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level, with the help of the Citizens Security and Justice Programme (CSJP), which included mathematics and English Language. Then to a technical tertiary institution where they completed courses at The University of the West Indies School of Continuing Studies. Marvin graduated last year and is permanently employed to a regional petroleum company. However, both young men continue to work with the HOLY Network, mentoring other young people who have challenges similar to theirs.

“It’s a great programme,” Rev Bell underscored, commenting on the practicality of the AutoSkills programme, a core component of the Learning Net Works programme.

“AutoSkills is about playing games or solving puzzles. However, one is really learning to read and write and grasp mathematics. Because it is fun and it’s on the computer, you don’t immediately realise that you are learning to type, use a mouse, and grasp concepts,” Bell explained.

The programme promotes students through stages, first diagnosing their literacy levels, and then moving them along as they master each stage.

“The programme is rewards-based. It’s focused on whatever you do right and not what you do wrong,” Dr Ward explains. “And then there is no punitive teacher. The students work on their own until they master it,” Dr Ward said, explaining that the adolescent brain is rewards-driven and punishment-averse.

The knowledge the students gain is complemented by personal development initiatives to develop their social skills at HOLY Network which focuses on their individual holistic need.

“It’s not always so straight- forward,” Rev Bell, however, cautioned. “You give them an education, but there are some personal skills you have to develop,” he added, pointing to the need to also develop their social and life skills.

“It helped me to build up my self-confidence,” commented 22-year-old Nadia Burke of Denham Town who joined the HOLY Network at age 13, after being expelled from high school in 2008. The teenage mother, who says she could recognise very few words when she entered the programme, improved her literacy using the AutoSkills software.

As a result, she was able to sit three subjects at the CSEC level, which she passed with distinctions and credit; and those qualifications later allowed her to enroll in the HEART Trust/NTA programme to study hospitality.

Burke continues to work as a mentor and office manager at HOLY Network, while pursuing additional CSEC qualifications.

“Autoskills along with the HOLY Network helped me so that I can be there for other kids; therefore, I advise them that they don’t have to follow company. They can be better,” Burke said.

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