Kendal Primary top PEP students get $750,000 in scholarships
eleven outstanding Primary exit Profile (PEP) students of Kendal Primary School in the parish Hanover were the recent beneficiaries of scholarships valued at roughly $750,000 from past students of the school.
Among the awardees were six students who received the Ethel and George Wilson scholarship valued at US$500 each.
Two students received the Moseley’s scholarships valued at US$300 each while the Elworth Williams scholarships, valued at US$500 each, were awarded to three students.
The awardees include the school’s top-performing boy in the PEP, Daniell Fyffe, and top girl, Altania Lawrence.
Chadane Barrett, who travels from Grange Hill in Westmoreland to attend Kendal Primary, who lost his mother to cancer on the day of his graduation, was also the recipient of a scholarship.
Howard Mcvitie and his wife Dianne are the sponsors of the Ethel and George Wilson scholarship, which was named in honour of his grandparents.
Mcvitie told the Jamaica observer West that after his family and grandchildren emigrated to the US, it was the community who took care of his grandparents and as a way of repaying the communities of Kendal and Cessnock, the annual scholarship, which is a contribution from family and friends, was started 16 years ago.
He noted that apart from the scholarships awarded to PEP students, scholarships were also awarded to students attending tertiary institutions.
“We want to try to get more local folks who we grew up with from Kendal school who have the ability to do something to help out with the children. The kids (children) need help. The job that the teachers and the principal are doing here with these children is phenomenal. So, anything that we can do to assist to make it even a little better, that’s what we are all about,” said Mcvitie.
Principal of Kendall Primary Karlene Wallace had high praise for the donors of the scholarships.
“Thank you for remembering the needy and for continuing to come to Kendal every year to give something back,” expressed a grateful Wallace during a small function held at the school recently.
Former Principal Jennifer Baugh encouraged the students to remain humble and make good use of the opportunity afforded to them, noting that many have wasted opportunities in the past.
And board chairman and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Hanover Western Ralston Anson encouraged the students to stay focused, while at the same time urged parents to pay close attention to the boys, who he said are endangered species. Anson, who is also a former teacher at the school, used the occasion to encourage the students to make good use of the opportunity given to them, noting that when he was a child students were not afforded such an opportunity.