Youngsters in St. Catherine Benefit from Personal Development Workshop
January 19, 2005The Full Story
More than 60 youngsters from high schools and community groups in St. Catherine attended a one-day personal development workshop held on January 18, at the Farmers’ Training Centre in Twickenham Park.
The workshop was organized by the Field Services Department of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) and is one in a series of sessions being held island wide, to provide training for young people in personal development.
Eastern Regional Manager at the JCDC, Dorrett Thaxter, told JIS News that over the years, the organization had received favourable responses from similar workshops held for contestants participating in the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen contest, and decided to extend the programme to youngsters across the island.
The Festival Queen Contest, a project of the JCDC, provides training in personal development, showcases the talents of the contestants and helps to develop their leadership qualities. “We have realized that those who have entered the competition have gained from it in terms of deportment, personal development, walk and poise, speech and diction and the coordinating of a basic wardrobe,” she pointed out.
Miss Thaxter noted that wardrobe planning was included because young persons often concentrated on buying outfits for casual wear and often do not have appropriate clothes for formal or semi-formal functions.
“We teach them how to build a basic wardrobe because no one has a lot of money to buy a lot of clothes, so you want to work with what you have and the best way to coordinate what you have,” she added.
Other speakers at the event were Miss Jamaica Festival Queen 2004-2005 Dr. Marsha Barnett and David Reid, JCDC Cultural Organiser in St. Catherine.Similar workshops will be held at the Anglican Church Hall in Port Maria, St Mary; Wexford Court Hotel Conference Room in Montego Bay, St. James; Sean Lavery Faith Hall in Savanna-la-mar, Westmoreland; Mandeville Hotel in Mandeville, Manchester on January 19, 20, 21 and 25, respectively.