St. Thomas Hill-View Kinder Prep Beats Competition at 4-H Achievement Day

St. Thomas Hill-View Kinder Preparatory was the school to beat at the recent St. Thomas 4-H Clubs Parish Achievement Day, which was held at the Seaforth High School campus.

The institution, located in Morant Bay, copped most of the competitive events at the annual exposition, which showcases the best of youth in agriculture.

The school retained the top spots in the Production of Fruit Slush, Making of Staplewich (where bread is replaced with a staple or staple-based product), Rabbit Care and Management and claimed victory in Recitation, bettering its second-place finish from last year.

Teacher and President of the St. Thomas Hill-View Kinder Prep’s 4-H Club, Melissa Brown, tells JIS News that the awardees were very motivated and determined to win ahead of the competition.

“It is a great feeling knowing that they came prepared. They are eager, always ready to learn, ready to practice [and] that just gives me the boost to always want to be there and encourage them and show them the way,” Ms. Brown says.

Ms. Brown is encouraging other schools to get their students involved in the 4-H movement and foster environments where students can grow and become “great entrepreneurs in the future”.

“The 4-H Clubs is doing a great job in Jamaica. It is just for the students to [become] more involved and build on their potential. Many of them are talented, so it’s just for us as teachers and leaders to encourage them along that path,” she notes.

Final-year students at St. Thomas Hill-View Kinder Prep and two-time winners Samoi Lattibeaudiere and Rosheen Silva, were excited to again claim the top spots in their respective segments, while expressing regret that this would be their last year competing at this level.

Samoi, who entered the Food Slush section, won with her ‘MWP Slush’, which featured three flavours – mango, watermelon, and pineapple.

“Last year, when I entered, I was really nervous… . It was my first time winning and I cried,” she tells JIS News.

Although she won last year, Samoi says there was some feedback that the beverage had a watery consistency, so she returned to the drawing board to perfect the recipe.

“I have been practising,” she says, noting that she was happy to again take first place in her final year at St. Thomas Hill-View Kinder Prep.

Meanwhile, Rosheen’s colourful rainbow Pumpkin Kibbeh and Stuffed Plantain dish saw her taking top honours in the Staplewich section.

“For the Pumpkin Kibbeh, I used fish, lettuce, tomato, and bell peppers in three different colours, so it could look like a rainbow. [I also used] cucumbers and bacon, and the bread was orange [because] it was made from pumpkin,” she boasts.

She brought her creative skills to bear in the Stuffed Plantain dish by frying and forming a ripe plantain into a canoe then filling it with ground beef, mozzarella cheese, a special homemade sauce, and spices.

Rosheen tells that an “oversight” almost cost her the competition last year, so she was careful not to make the same mistake this time around.

“Last year, I felt very good because it was my first time, but I was marked down because of the product I used. It was bought from the supermarket because we didn’t know that it was supposed to be handmade. So, this year, we came back with something better, and we made things from scratch instead of using store-bought products,” she explains.

The Staplewich winner, who is also the student president of the school’s 4-H club, had high praises for the teachers who worked alongside the clubbites.

“I really enjoy learning new things, especially with the teachers’ help. There are some things I didn’t know about, and I know that if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to learn,” she says, noting that while it was her first time hearing about the food she prepared, she felt “really comfortable about it”.

For her part, Catalaya Gayle, who placed second in Recitation in 2023 while just in grade two, took the top spot this year.

With the experience of last year, she did the necessary work to improve and entered this year’s competition with more confidence.

“I put in a lot of practice [and] a lot of energy in what I was saying, and I felt good when I was on stage performing,” she tells JIS News.

She adds that the Club has taught her new things, including being “confident in what she does”.

“I feel really great to be a part of [the 4-H Club] because I learned new things that I didn’t know, like saying poems. I wasn’t really good at it [before],” she confesses.

The lone male winner from the school, Josiah Dunbar, tells JIS News that he was proud to retain the title as the best in Rabbit Care and Management.

He admits that while he was nervous when he entered last year, this time around he was more confident thanks to the support of school principal Kennesia McLean and his mentor, Alvin Cruickshank.

The grade-five student says that being a part of the 4-H movement has helped him to grow and become more responsible by tending to his rabbits, keeping the space clean and ensuring that they are fed.

Josiah says he is now encouraged to start his own business in raising and selling rabbits.

The Jamaica 4-H Clubs was established in 1940 and is the youth training programme of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Mining.

The 4-H Clubs has a mandate to produce high-quality and marketable leaders by introducing students aged five to 25 to training in agriculture, home economics, entrepreneurship, and other social skills and to promote environmental awareness and a healthy lifestyle.

The National 4-H Achievement Day, which will culminate all the achievements across the 14 parishes, will be held on May 10 at the Denbigh Showground in Clarendon.