Needy Students in St. Catherine Awarded Scholarships

The St. Catherine 4-H Club Parish Advisory Council on Saturday (August 18), awarded scholarships valued at $220,000 to 22 students in need of assistance.

The scholarships as well as gift baskets were presented to the students during a prayer breakfast, held at the Linstead Pentecostal Tabernacle, in St. Catherine.

Eighteen of the scholarships were presented to those entering secondary schools, while the other four were presented to students entering tertiary institutions.

The students hail from the four zones of the St. Catherine 4-H Club, including Portmore, Spanish Town, Old Harbour and Linstead.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), Mrs. Donna-Marie Rowe, challenged the students to “commit to being good ground every day after today,” as she compared the Parable of the Sower, found in the Synoptic Gospels, to the theme of the prayer breakfast: ‘Transforming lives through Educational Empowerment’.

“Do what you know is right and invest in yourself. Stir up the gifts within you and stir up your pure minds as you till the soil in preparation for planting,” she told them.

“Some of the tools you can use to prepare the ground include reading a book, getting rid of the stones of doubt and the weeds of laziness, taking charge of your mind, and never stop learning,” the CEO continued.

Mrs. Rowe further encouraged the students to read widely, including local and international news, and the biblical chapters of Proverbs, Matthew, Luke and John.

She also recommended inspirational books such as: ‘As a Man Thinketh’, by James Wood; ‘The Richest Man in Babylon’, by George Samuel Clason; and ‘Ask, Seek, Knock’, by Dr. Marcus Mottley.

“Young people, map out a structure as you go back to school. Transformation doesn’t happen overnight,” Mrs. Rowe told them.

In his message read at the function by Liaison Officer of the Jamaica 4-H Club, Holova Stubbs, Executive Director, Dr. Ronald Blake, said his organisation will continue to create opportunities for youth through innovative programmes, and to “continue to keep pace with issues affecting youth in agriculture and the sector at large.”

“In so doing, we will do a lot of work as it relates to specialised agricultural techniques as well as the effects of climate change on agriculture,” Dr. Blake said.

“We will also continue to ensure that more youngsters become a part of the Youth in Agriculture Programme, as we aim to continue to reduce the age of the average farmer in Jamaica,” he added.

Dr. Blake congratulated those students receiving bursaries and wished for them every success.