“Only The Best Is Good Enough”
Volume 15 October 2013
Produced by: Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA)
Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased)
New Market P.O., Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, West Indies
E-mail: beershebaoldstudentsassn@gmail.com
Officers:
Glenis Daley, President
Victor Smith, Vice President
Vincent Samuels, Secretary/Treasurer, Editor/Producer
Ann Hamilton, Assistant Secretary
REFLECTION ON BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL ALUMNI THAT HAVE PASSED ON
It is with much sad regret that Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) brings to the attention of all Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) Alumni in Jamaica and the Diaspora, Gerald Gayle, age 71 years, Beersheba primary School alumnus from Long Ground, New Market, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies that has passed on since the publication of Volume 14 of its Newsletter.
Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to express its sincere condolence to all family members and relatives of the deceased as they continue to grieve and mourn the loss of their love ones. May the memories of these bereaved love ones continue to linger in our hearts
DECISION TAKEN BY THE SCHOOL BOARD AT BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL (GOVERNMENT LEASED) AND THE MANAGING COMMITTEE FOR JAMES RICHARDS EDUCATIONAL TRUST FUND RE SHANISA JONES, NOW GRADE 10 C STUDENT AT SAINT ELIZABETH TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL (STETHS)
BOSA comments on the above subject matter remains the same as they were written on page 1 of 12 and 2 of 12 in Volume 14 July 2013 of its Newsletter.
Readers of this Newsletter are urged to log on to BOSA website to read the following news articles that will give them additional information with respect to this outstanding, contentious, unresolved matter:
PROGRESS REPORT ON SHANISA JONES, TANHOI GUTHRIE, NICKAYLA STEVENS, AND DAMANIKE SMITH
Shanisa Jones, grade 11 student, Tanhoi Guthrie, grade 10 student, Nickayla Stephens, grade 9 student, and Damanike Smith, grade 9 student who currently attend Saint Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Hampton School, Santa Cruz and Malvern, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, West Indies , continue to maintain satisfactory academic performance.
In recognition of their good academic performance, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) feted eight (8) students at THE ANNUAL BACK TO SCHOOL DINNER that was held at Waterloo Guest House, High Street, Black River, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies on August 11, 2013.
Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) presented a Dell Latitude Lap Top Notebook Computer and a Canon PIXMA IP2702 Inkjet Printer and one ream of copying paper to Nickayla Stephens for her excellent academic performance notwithstanding adverse conditions against which she has been struggling since BOSA became her safety net in September 2010. Details and photographs in connection with these events have been posted on BOSA website: http://bosaonline.org
BOSA INVALUABLE HONORARY MEMBERS, FRIENDS, AND WELL-WISHERS
Cognizant of how invaluable Honorary Members, Friends, and Well-wishers are to Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA), the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association with importunity, continues his relentless search through the use of social net work websites and Information Technology (IT) to build BOSA database so as to add Honorary Members, Friends, and Well-wishers who are invaluable to the work that BOSA is doing in the interest and welfare of students at Beersheba Primary School.
Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to place on record and express its sincere gratitude and appreciation to Carlton A. Prince, CPA, New York, USA, Hartley Cawley, Cawsley’s Pharmacy, Black River, Saint Elizabeth, Rory Allen, Allen’s Texaco Service Station, Black River. Saint Elizabeth, and Reuben E. Spencer, Retired Entrepreneur, for their continued invaluable support to the Association.
BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL (GOVERNMENT LEASED) ALUMNI WHO CONTINUE TO HAVE A CARING HEART TOWARDS STUDENTS WHO HAVE GRADUATED FROM BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL (GOVERNMENT LEASED) AS WELL AS THOSE WHO ARE CURRENTLY ATTENDING THE SCHOOL
Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to place on record its sincere appreciation and gratitude to Sheila & Winston Hamilton, Nora “Kitty Teacher” Lawrence, Kenneth Smith, Viola Cain-Hall, RN, Gloria Smith-Meredith, BSC, Roy Holness, Neville Jones and other Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) Alumni who have requested that they remain anonymous, for their generous sacrificial financial contribution that are utilized by the Association as a safety net to assist students who are in need to further their education.
NEED FOR GSAT STUDENTS GRADUATING BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL TO BE COMPUTER LITERATE
All interested Alumni are urged to revisit previous issues of BOSA Newsletters so as to ascertain resources which are urgently needed to establish the Computer Lab. As soon as the Computer Lab is established, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) will contact Stephen Curran, Network Design Director at DIGICEL Group, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, regarding the interest which he has indicated to the Association to provide Wireless Broadband Internet Service to Beersheba Primary School notwithstanding the fact that his knowledge of the terrain in the area could be challenging to provide service to the school.
It is with much regret that the hostile “cat and mouse “environment that continues to come from the administration at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased), has not enabled Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) to aggressively and innovatively pursue its desire to completely equip the Computer Lab at the school. The Association has made two futile attempts to take a computer Technician to the school to continue work on the Computer Lab but both attempts were met with frivolous and reckless excuses. On the advice of the Chairman of the School Board at the school, two Central Processing Units (CPU’s) which a Beersheba Primary School (government Leased) Alumna donated to the school, were removed from the school and taken to Computer Technician’s work shop in Black River so that they could be trouble-shooted and evaluated.
Up to the date that this newsletter is published, check that has been made with the Computer Technician has not revealed that anyone from the administration at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) has contacted the Computer Technician to ascertain the whereabouts of these two Central Processing Units (CPU’s)
MORE JAMAICAN PROVERBS
On page 8 of Volume 2 of BOSA Newsletter under the heading: JAMAICAN PROVERBS THAT OUR ANCESTORS TAUGHT US, we defined a proverb (which comes from the Latin word proverbium) in any
language – including Jamaican Patois – as a simple and concrete saying that is popularly known and repeated and expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experiences of humanity.
In addition to one hundred and thirty (130) Jamaican Proverbs that were published in Volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the Association’s Newsletters, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) is pleased to list the following eleven (11) additional Jamaican Proverbs for the information and consideration of all Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) Alumni, Honorary BOSA Members, Friends, and Well-wishers and other readers of its newsletter in Jamaica and the Diaspora:
– Ebrey dog hab dem day an ebrey puss dem four o’clock
– No cup no bruck, no caffee no throw way
– You gwine pay fe roast and boil
– Orange yellow but you don’t know if it sweet
– Ram goat hab beard, but big bull no hab none
– Grass a grow but horse a starve
– When you neighbor beard ketch a fire, use wata and wet yours
– If you live wid dog, you will learn fe bark
– Neba feel a dog tail fe find out if im a sleep
– No count ten toes in the presence of a man who hab nine toes
– No buy cow if you can get free milk
ERECTION OF UNPAINTED PLY-BOARD PARTITION IN THE MAIN AUDITORIUM AT BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL
In the pursuance of comments listed on page 9 of 14 of Volume 7 of BOSA Newsletter regarding the above subject matter, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to report that as a result of pussy-footing by Ministry of Education Technocrats Errol Golding, Director of Technical Services, Courtney Hamilton, Regional Building Officer, Bertram Brooks, Area Building Supervisor, and Collin Blair, Director of Communications, the issue remains unresolved and inimical to all Stakeholders in the Beersheba Primary School Community. notwithstanding the assurance given by the Board of Governors Beersheba Primary School which met at a meeting that was chaired by Mrs. Nadine Leachman, Regional Director, Region 5, Ministry of Education that the Board would handle and resolve the matter, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to report that this outstanding matter remains unresolved.
BI-MONTHLY MEETINGS OF BOSA
Bi-monthly meetings of BOSA are held in the main auditorium at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) on the second Sunday every two months at 4.00 PM. The view has been expressed that Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) should revisit and reconsider the day on which bi-monthly meetings of the Association are held so as to avoid friction and rivalry from a political group and church groups in Beersheba School Community which tend to hold meetings on the same day and time at which BOSA meetings are held.
FUND RAISING ACTIVITIES IN CONNECTION WITH BOSA SCHOLARSHIP FUND
BOSA Members, Honorary BOSA Members, Friends, Well-wishers, and other Beersheba Primary School Old Students who have not yet heard but who through the help of other Old Students, and this News Letter, will be made aware of BOSA existence and the work that the Association has been doing in the interest and welfare of students at Beersheba Primary School, are urged to make Checks/Cheques/Money Orders for their generous financial contribution to BOSA Scholarship Fund payable to BEERSHEBA OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION and is to be mailed to the Association at 99 Jacaranda Avenue, Flat Rocks Subdivision, Black River P.O., Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies. Another most cost effective method for persons named herein to send their generous financial contribution to the association is to use MONEYGRAM MONEY TRANSFER which should be sent to the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association at the Association’s indicated herein. The name and mailing or e-mail address of the Sender, and Reference/Control Number, amount that will be sent of the money that will be transferred should be called in to the Secretary/Treasurer at telephone numbers: 1-876-634-2410, 1-876-919-0456, 1-876-297-1515 or e-mailed to the Association’s e-mail address: beershebaoldstudentsassn@gmail.com All donations received will be promptly acknowledged in writing on BOSA official letter head.
Persons living in Jamaica, West Indies may deposit their generous financial contribution to BEERSHEBA OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION Savings Account No. 4410317200298396 at any Branch of RBC Bank Jamaica Limited and advise the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association when this has been done so that such contributions may be promptly acknowledged in writing. Likewise, persons who reside outside of Jamaica in London, England, may wire their generous financial contribution to
BEERSHEBA OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (BOSA) IS LOOKING FORWARD TO HEAR FROM BEERSHEBA ELEMENTARY/ALL AGE/PRIMARY SCHOOL ALUMNI WHOM ITS SECRETARY/TREASURER NETWORKED WITH AT FUNERAL SERVICES AND OTHER SOCIAL GATHERINGS
Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) is still awaiting word from Beersheba Elementary/All Age/Primary School Alumni whom its Secretary/Treasurer networked with at Funeral Services and other
Social Gatherings in the New Market area, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, West Indies regarding their commitment to make a generous sacrificial financial contribution to assist with the work that the Association is doing in the interest and welfare of students that attend Beersheba Primary School.
MEET THE ACHIEVERS AND TRAILBLAZERS
No profile has been received from any Beersheba primary School (Government Leased) Alumnus/Alumna; consequently, there is nothing to report under this heading in this newsletter.
Editor’s Note: If Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) Alumni in Jamaica and the Diaspora would like to see themselves being featured under this heading, Alumni who have not yet responded to appeals made in BOSA Newsletters to send the Editor/Producer their curriculum vitae, academic, and communal profile as an attachment to the Association’s e-mail address, are urged to do so in order that they can be published in Volume 15 as well as future volumes of the newsletter.
RESOLUTION TO RENAME BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL JAMES RICHARDS PRIMARY SCHOOL
As a result of the above subject matter being thoroughly discussed with the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education in a meeting that was held at the Ministry’s Head Office in Kingston, Jamaica west Indies on March 13, 2013, and the matter being given full support by the Saint Elizabeth Parish Council, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) is hopeful that with the full backing of the entities named herein, the School Board at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) will acquiesce to meet with BOSA so that in the same way that Bob Marley Foundation has succeeded in getting cabinet approval for Hon. Robert “Bob” Nester Marley alma mater to be named after him, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) will also get Cabinet approval to rename James Richards alma mater, Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) after him.
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS (SCHOOL BOARD) BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL, (GOVERNMENT LEASED) NEW MARKET, SAINT ELIZABETH, JAMAICA, WEST INDIES
The National Council on Education (NCE) has published the names of the following persons whom the Honourable Minister of Education has appointed to serve on the School Board at Beersheba Primary School (Government School), New Market, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies:
Chairman: Rev. Phyllis Smith-Seymour
Principal: Mrs. Tatlin Smith-Williams
Academic Member: Mrs. Naomi Foster-Brooks
PTA Member: Nickesha Lawrence
Community Member: Mr. Valdes Hamilton
Member 1: Mrs. Karen Walker
GOLDEN THOUGHTS AND NUGGETS THAT ARE WORTHWHILE PONDERING
“Over look, give and take, put up with.”
— Formula given by the late Mrs. Virie Smith-Colquhoun “Miss Virie”, Beersheba Primary School Alumna, Elder Carmel Moravian Church, Westmoreland, Jamaica West Indies, and philanthropist for successful and meaningful living.
Do all the good you can
In all the ways you can
To all the people you can
For just as long as you can
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If I can help somebody as I pass along
If I can help somebody with a word or song
If I can show somebody where he/she has gone wrong
Then my living will not be in vain
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If one has an insatiable appetite for learning,
If one is able to rise and dust oneself off andkeep going after hitting the canvas
This individual will reach the mountain top
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— The late A. Z. Preston, Vice Chancellor University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica west Indies.
“NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER GIVE UP!”
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Formula for success given by Professor Dean Remsen, Dean of Students at the Orientation of Freshmen, Bronx Community College (BCC), The City University of New York, University Heights, Bronx, New York, USA [ Alma mater of Vincent Samuels, Secretary/Treasurer, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA)
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Excellence is doing a common thing in an uncommon way”
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Challenge is tenacity to confront that which can only be imagined
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Great rivers flow from small tributes
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“Getting what you want in life depends on how badly you want it”
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— Dr. Juldean Rigg, native Jamaican who grew up in poverty and is now Assistant Professor at Indiana State University, USA during an interview on PROFILE on TVJ with Ion Boyne on Sunday, July 07, 2013.
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“Always remember that nobody owes you anything. You can be anything you want to be if you stay focused.”
— Dr. Noel Gordon, native Jamaican now leading Educator in the USA during interview on PROFILE on TVJ with Ion Boyne on Sunday, September 01, 2013.
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SHOES IN CHURCH
I showered and shaved and I adjusted my tie
I got to church and sat in a pew just in time.
Bowing my head in prayer, as I closed my eyes
I saw the shoe of the man who sat next to me
Touching my own shoes, I sighed.
With plenty of room on either of us, inaudibly I said
Why must our soles touch?
The soles of his shoes touching mine bothered me
But it did not bother the man in any way.
A prayer began: “Our Father”, yet I thought
That this man who sat beside me in wearing dusty, worn
Scratched shoes with holes on the side had no pride
“Thank You for blessings,” the prayer went on.
Silently, the shoe man said “Amen.”
I focused on the prayer as best I could
But my thoughts were on the man’s shoes again.
“Aren’t we supposed to look our best when we walk?
through that door?” I inquired inaudibly of the shoe man.
“Well, this certainly isn’t it I thought”
Looking down at the worn out shoes the man was wearing.
The prayer ended and the songs of praise began.
The shoe man sang loud and loftily every line.
His voice lifted the rafters, and his hands were raised high
The Lord certainly heard the shoe man’s voice from the sky.
It was time for the offering, and what I put on the plate was steep.
I watched as the shoe man reached in his pocket so deep.
I saw what the shoe man pulled out and what he put in
I heard a soft clink as the silver hit the tin.
The sermon really bored me to tears, and that no lie,
It was the same for the shoe man as tears fell from his eyes.
At the end of the service as is custom here,
We must greet visitors and show them all good cheer.
Moved deeply with desire to meet the shoe man,
After the closing prayer, I reached over and shook his hand.
He was old as the hills and his skin was dark as night
And his hair was truly a mess nevertheless, I thanked him
for coming and for being our guest.
The shoe man said, “My name is Charlie,
I’m glad to meet you my friend” he said
with tears in his eyes and a wide grin on his face.
“Let me explain” the shoe man said, wiping tears from his eyes.
“I’ve been coming to this church for months and you’re the first to say.”
“I know that my appearance is not like the rest
But I really do try to always look my best.
I’ve always clean and polished my shoes before my long walk
But by the time I get to church, they are dirty and dusty as chalk.”
My heart was filled with pain and choked up with tears
As the shoe man continued to apologize for daring to sit near.
“I know when I get to church I must look a sight
But I tell myself if I touch you, maybe our souls might unite”.
I was silent for a moment, knowing whatever I said
Would be pale in comparison ‘cause
I’d spoke from my heart and not my head.
“Oh, you’ve touched me” I said and taught me in part
that the best of any man is found in his heart.
The rest about me the shoe man will never know
How thankful I am that his dirty old shoes touched my soul.
Editor’s Note: Contributed, source unknown. The original work has been modified in part so as to maintain poetic meter, rhyme, and rhythm and abstractions have been substituted with figures of speech to create concrete images which will better relate the story to the reader.
KEEPING IT STEADY: OLDER ADULTS PERFORM CONSISTENTLY ON COGNITIVE TASKS THAN YOUNGER ADULTS, STUDY SUGGESTS
Sometimes it’s just not your day: first you can’t remember where you put your car keys, then you forget about an important meeting at work. We’ve all experienced cognitive lapses at one time or another. But a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the association for Psychological Science shows that older workers may actually have fewer “senior moments” than younger counterparts.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin found that:
There aren’t really “good and bad days” for cognitive performance. Rather, fluctuations in cognitive performance happen in shorter amounts of time, i.e., there are good and bad “moments.”
Older workers (ages 65-80) had more consistent cognitive performance than their younger counterparts (ages 20-31). One hundred and one younger (ages 20-31) and one hundred and three (103) older (ages 65-80) adults were tested for perceptual speed, episodic memory, and working memory scores across 100 days, enabling researchers to assess the participants’ learning improvements as well as their day-to-day performance fluctuations.
Results
The results revealed significant age differences. In all nine cognitive tasks assessed, the older group actually showed less performance variability from day to day than the younger group. The older adults’ cognitive performance was thus more consistent across days and this picture remained unaltered when differences in average performance favoring the young were taken into account.
“Further analyses indicate that the older adults’ higher consistency is due to learned strategies to solve the task, a constantly high motivation level, as well as a balanced daily routine and stable mood,” explained lead researcher, Florian Schmiedek.
The findings are of importance for the debate about older people’s potential in the workplace.
“One of our studies in the car production industry has shown that serious errors that are expensive to resolve are much less likely to be committed by older staff members than by their younger colleagues,” says Axel Borsch-Supan, another researcher studying productivity of the labor force in aging societies at the Max Planck Institute. “Likewise, in other branches of industry that we have studied, one does not observe higher productivity among the younger relative to the older workers.”
“On balance, older employees’ productivity and reliability is higher than that of their younger colleagues,” concludes Borsch-Supan.
This research was supported by the Max Planck Society and an award from Alexander von Humboldt donated by the German Federal Ministry of education and Research.
Source: Schmiedek F, Lovden M, Lindenberger U. “Keeping it steady: older adults perform more consistently on cognitive tasks than younger adults.” Psychol Sci. 2013 July 10.
Editor’s Note: Findings from the above and other studies have given rise to the application of Psychology to the workplace to induce and measure productivity gain. It is for this reason that, Industrial Psychologists – a specialized field in Psychology – have been employed by macro and micro enterprises where they have become participants in interviewing new employees. During the interviewing process and other behavioral studies, Industrial Psychologists rely on psychometrics to create a profile of workers that are most likely to better understand and implement strategies that are formulated by these enterprises with respect productivity gain that will ultimately increase market share and give these businesses a competitive advantage.
BEERSHEBA OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (BOSA) HOME-COMING AND STUDENTS REUNION
Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) has not received any feed back, comment, and/or suggestion since the above subject matter was promulgated and thoroughly discussed in Volume 13 page 12 of 12 in its Newsletter, April 2013.
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF HAMILTON, BERMUDA TO VISIT JAMAICA IN 2014
The Rt. Worship Graeme P. Outerbridge, J.P., Mayor of the City of Hamilton, Bermuda and Chairman of the Corporation Council of the City of Hamilton, has accepted an invitation from His worship the Mayor of Black River Councillor Everton Fisher, Chairman Saint Elizabeth Parish Council to visit the Town of Black River, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies to participate in activities in BLACK RIVER DAY which will be held on August 02, 2014 and Cultural and other activities involving Heritage Tourism in New Market Community. Activities will include the visit of the mayor of Bermuda to Carr District – birthplace of James “Dick” Richards (1872-1965), [“Bermuda King”] Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) his alma mater, and “Del Cottage” where Mr. Richards built a house and donated it to his brother Doxie Gayle. While visiting “Del Cottage”, The Mayor of Hamilton, Bermuda will also see the graves of Doxie Gayle and his wife Sister Gally as well as the water tank that Mr. Richards constructed on the property with assistance from a Master Mason Contractor from Bermuda. The seventeen feet long x ten feet wide x sixteen feet deep water tank was built in two sections: one section to provide water to his brother Doxie and his family and the other section to provide water to people from the impoverished, poverty stricken, peasant farming districts adjoining “Del Cottage.”:
Making the announcement regarding the visit of The Mayor of Hamilton, Bermuda at BLACK RIVER DAY that was held in the Town of Black River on Friday, August 02, 2013 which was broadcast live on Dance hall with George “GT Taylor on Irie FM Radio, The Mayor of Black river publicly expressed his gratitude to Vincent Samuels, Secretary/Treasurer Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) for being the Ambassador and Emissary that linked the island of Bermuda with the Town of Black River and New Market Community by way of Heritage Tourism of which James “Dick” Richards [“Bermuda King], Beersheba Primary School Alumnus, Soldier, Self-made Businessman, Philanthropist, Icon, and Legend is the genesis.
In recognition of the contribution that BOSA Secretary/Treasurer is making as a participant in meetings of South Coast Resort Board – to which the Chairman School Board Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) has been invited to attend but she has not yet attended any of the meetings – that deals with Tourism Development from Great Bay, southern Saint Elizabeth to New Market in the Northern Section of the Parish, the Secretary/treasurer has received information that the Mayor of Black River has named him to serve on a Select Committee that Saint Elizabeth Parish Council has appointed to coordinate plans in connection with the visit of the Mayor of Hamilton, Bermuda.
Monthly meetings of South Coast resort Board under the Chairmanship of Mr. Tony Freckleton are held at Lovers Leap, Yardley Chase, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies. The next meeting of the Board will be held on Thursday, September 26, 2013 commencing at 2:00 PM.
THE ELESA HAMILTON SCHOLARSHIP THAT WAS ANNOUNCED AT THE MEETING OF BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL (GOVERNMENT LEASED) PTA THAT WAS HELD AT THE SCHOOL ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
The Elesa Hamilton Scholarship that was founded by the family of the late Mrs. Elesa “Miss Ele” Hamilton of Woodlands and Paynes Town, Beersheba Primary School Alumna and Philanthropist, was announced and explained to Parents and Teachers by the Secretary/Treasurer BOSA at a meeting of Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) PTA that was held in the main auditorium at the school on Thursday, September 12, 2013.
The Secretary/Treasurer informed the meeting that the Scholarship for which the Hamilton Family will manage and make disbursements from the Fund on the recommendation of Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA), students must satisfy the following criteria in order to qualify for the Scholarship that is worth JMD 57,000.00 per year for the duration of study from 1st to 5th Form in respect of the student that will be selected from Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased):
1. The student must be a resident of Kilmarnock, Paynes Town, New market and adjoining Districts that make up Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) Community.
2. The students must score higher than 85% in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).
3. The student must maintain a minimum of 90% in High School.
4. The student must be from a low income family.
5. The student must be given active parental participation.
The student from Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) that is awarded the Scholarship who fail to maintain his/her eligibility requirements for the Scholarship (i.e., grade or monitoring obligations) will be given one semester/term to correct the deficiency before his/her Scholarship is cancelled.
In the preamble that was given before the actual presentation, the Secretary/Treasurer BOSA informed the meeting that:
The Scholarship was founded in memory of Mrs. Elesa “Miss Ele” Hamilton in celebration and remembrance of her passion towards children and Paynes Town Community.
A. The Scholarship provides a unique opportunity for deserving low income youths/students to escape the cycle of poverty through education.
B. The Scholarship offers students secondary educational opportunities, caring, volunteer mentors, and hope for a better life.
C. The Comprehensive Scholarship Programme which starts in Primary Educational Institutions and continues through High School is based on the principle, that given extensive support, motivation, and accountability, children will work hard to ensure that they obtain high Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) scores and proceed to a Prominent Secondary Educational Institution.
D. The Scholarship and Student Services is privately funded by the Hamilton family and monitors mentorship services to Scholarship Recipients. The family of the late Mrs. Elesa “Miss Ele” Hamilton is aware that the education of a child is an investment in the future and the assured way of breaking the cycle of poverty.
E. The goal of the Comprehensive Scholarship Programme which will award one (1) Scholarship to the student who qualifies from Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) is to continue to reduce the number of school drop-outs and to increase the number of graduates who proceed to Colleges or enter the workforce successfully.
Editor’s Note: We wish to remind our readers that as part of its vision to contribute to a paper free environment as well as to use Information Technology (IT) to minimize cost, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) will no longer circulate its Newsletters by Post Office and hand delivery. Effective immediately, BOSA Newsletters will be sent as e-mail attachments to persons whose e-mail addresses are in BOSA data base and they will also be posted simultaneously on its website: http://bosaonline.org on publication.
“A heart that is focused on others will not be consumed with self”
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