School dropout Shenelle Campbell gets boost to keep dream alive
Published:Saturday | June 25, 2022 | 12:09 AMRasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
At 15 years old, Shenelle Campbell became a teenage mother.
Suffering scorn and ridicule and faced with the prospect of dropping out of school, she was determined not to give up on her academic pursuits and sought assistance from the Women’s Centre in Portland.
“When I got pregnant, my whole world turned upside-down and life took many challenging turns,” Campbell, who suffered another blow when her mother passed away at that time, said.
“It was indeed painful,” she told The Gleaner. “I decided to use the negative remarks to get myself empowered to honour her memory.”
Campbell said that she decided to give her studies her all while at the Women’s Centre, despite the mental, physical and financial challenges she had to endure with a child to care for.
“I managed to study and matriculated to the Moneague College, where I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social work,” she disclosed.
But despite the encouragement and assistance from family members, she found it difficult to pay her tuition fees.
The Harris Family Vision Foundation, which is registered in the United States and Jamaica, and has been giving back to Jamaica by way of scholarships and health fairs for 20 years, would come to her rescue with a $100,000 scholarship for Campbell to complete the remaining two years of the programme.
Story of hope and perseverance
Michael Harris, president of the foundation, told The Gleaner that Campbell was assisted under a section of the Beverly Taylor Binns Memorial Scholarship, which is named after a former member and honours students with grants.
“We were contacted, and as an organisation, we decided to help Shenelle with her tuition, while honouring the name of a founding member,” said Harris, who was born in Spanish Town, St Catherine. “Her story is one of hope and perseverance. We intend to help until she graduates. It is the least we can do for education.”
At the handover of the funds during an event at the McNeil Park House of Prayer on June 14, the foundation also forged a partnership with the St Catherine North Police Division’s Community Safety and Security Branch.
“We are very pleased to have participated in the day’s activities. We need more partnerships like these to showcase the flexibility of the police,” said Inspector Ishmael Williams.