Some TEF Summer Interns Given Permanent Jobs

Five of 650 participants in the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) 2018 summer internship programme have been offered permanent jobs, following the programme’s conclusion.

They are Pauline Nelson, who has been employed to Suretime Emergency Medical Services; Shamari Drysdale, at Stand Up for Jamaica (SUFJ); Mickelle Hall at Money Masters Limited; Trudi-Ann Cunningham, at the Jamaica Observer, and Bianca Cummings, at Eden Gardens Wellness Resort and Spa.

Other summer interns were offered part-time placements, while others were given extensions based on their levels of impact during their period of engagement.

An awards ceremony was held at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston on August 28 to single out approximately 90 of them deserving of special awards.

In his address to the interns at the ceremony, Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, said the aim of the programme was “to give them an experience that would help define (them) and create a purpose”.

“It is not just about enabling you to get a stipend, a salary and remuneration to assist you to buy books or provide some basic creature comforts. The purpose is to create character and build integrity, to be given a task and to complete it well,” he said.

The Minister emphasised that investment must be made in the “human capital” and in the “enhancement of the human capacity”, as the people are “Jamaica’s richest resources”.

It is for that reason that the Ministry invested approximately $53 million in the internship programme to “enable more people… to deliver more”, the Minister said.

“Young people, the future for you is not to be what you are, it is to be what you must become. It is to grow beyond your moment and to accept that what you do today is only to make tomorrow a better experience for you,” Mr. Bartlett advised.

In his remarks, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Suretime Emergency Medical, Dr. André McDonald, hailed the internship programme and urged the Minister to ensure “it is replicated in larger companies in Jamaica”.

Suretime has partnered with the TEF over the last five years and took four interns this year in the areas of pharmacology, nursing, customer service and human resource.

Head of the Summer Internship Programme, Diane Brown-Allen, said that this year, the internship programme saw the largest cohort of participants in its 11-year existence.

She explained that it was made possible due to an increase in the budget, the duration of the periods of employment offered to the interns to give each of them a chance, and the partnership forged with 11 new companies.

For next year, she informed that plans are in the offing to partner with the Abilities Foundation and to include more wards of the State.

During the ceremony, Jared Braham and Kerone Ross were awarded prizes for being Top Boy and Top Girl, respectively, in the programme.