Schools in St. Ann Take Part in 4-H Clubs Parish Achievement Day and Exposition

Marcus Garvey Technical High School in St. Ann was abuzz with activities as it hosted the St. Ann 4-H Clubs Annual Parish Achievement Day and Exposition 2025, on Thursday, March 27.

Among the schools that participated were Inverness Primary and Infant, Brown’s Town Primary, Clapham Primary, Marcus Garvey Technical High, Ferncourt High, York Castle High, Discovery Bay High, and Ocho Rios High.

Under the theme ‘Youth in Agriculture: Shaping the New FACE of Food’, the event was a culmination of a series of parish activities that began on February 25.

It showed the talents and skills of the young student participants across various agricultural, leadership and home economics competitions as well as exhibitions.

St. Ann 4-H Parish Manager, Tedroy Gordon, noted that the competitions included home economics events where students demonstrated their culinary skills by baking cakes, making fruit juices, preparing sandwiches, and creating porridge mixes.

The day also featured a school garden competition where institutions across the parish vied for the title of ‘Best Garden’, in terms of crop cultivation and livestock management, goat care and bee care management, among other activities, he told JIS News.

“We have about 38 different competitions today and a total of 45 schools participated in the competition, and that’s a big number,” said Mr. Gordon.

Ferncourt High School’s Latrell Wright and Gail Chin emerged as the St. Ann 4-H Champion Boy and Girl, respectively, and have earned the opportunity to advance to the National 4-H Clubs events at the Denbigh Showground in Clarendon on April 16. There, they will compete for a grand prize of $1 million each.

“I assumed Parish Manager here in 2011 and since then, we have been doing it successfully every single year. St. Ann 4-H Clubs is one of the leaders. We set the trend for other parishes to follow in terms of the structure of our event, our programmes and the magnitude of sponsorship and the stakeholders that we reach out to,” Mr. Gordon explained.

“So, we continue to remain number one in terms of coordinating our events and we want to encourage parents out there to get your child involved in 4-H Clubs,” he added.

Among the day’s victories was a student from Brown’s Town High School, Ciara McFarlane, who won the porridge competition.

She told JIS News that entering the competition was a new experience for her and it required dedication and after-school training to perfect her craft.

“The competition itself really was not bad. I wondered if my presentation was the best as they incorporated the appearance, the taste and so on for the porridge. However, I won, and I felt good when I heard my name called as the winner today,” Ms. McFarlane told JIS News.

In the meantime, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Matthew Samuda, lauded the 4-H Clubs as a vital training ground for youth, particularly in addressing climate change challenges in agriculture.

A former 4-H member and Board member, Mr. Samuda, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for St. Ann North East, underscored the importance of modern, climate-smart farming techniques, and urged young people in 4-H to embrace agriculture as a sustainable and rewarding career path.

“The 4-H Clubs can give you the skills that allow you to matriculate into other institutions that can train you to do climate smart agriculture, that can prepare you for a rewarding life in agriculture,” Mr. Samuda said.