Scholarships nourishing agri dreams for CASE students
Published:Friday | October 14, 2022 | 12:10 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
Twenty-year-old Celine Sitladeen, who hails from Manchester, took a leap of faith when she applied to the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) in Portland to pursue an undergraduate degree in general agriculture.
She had worked for a year after completing sixth form, but even then, she did not know where the funds would come from to pay her tuition.
Sitladeen was among three students who were awarded the Rio Tinto Alcan Legacy Fund Scholarship on Thursday, valued at a sum of more than $2.7 million.
Once the outlined academic requirements are satisfied, the scholarship will be renewed for a second year.
Sitladeen recalled that as a child, she often nurtured sick animals back to health and watched her mother tend to goats and other animals.
“It just felt like my calling to pursue agriculture. I am very grateful for this scholarship, and I am feeling very ecstatic,” the first-year student said.
Her mother, Faithlyn Style, told The Gleaner that the scholarship is an answer to a prayer she said nightly.
“I was on the road when she told me [that she got the scholarship], and I was just screaming and screaming. A million thanks to the donors! I really appreciate this scholarship, and that’s why I had to come so far today to be here with my daughter,” the emotional mother said.
The Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) have established water-storage facilities in converting mined-out bauxite pits into catchment ponds to provide irrigation water for greenhouse and open-field production.
A total of 160 greenhouses were constructed in eight communities located in Manchester, St Elizabeth, and St Ann.
REQUIREMENTS
Recipients of the Rio Tinto Alcan Legacy Fund Scholarship will be required to undertake 200 hours of work service each year at their assigned cluster site. At the end of each year, the students will each prepare a report, outlining their experiences, observations, and recommendations for improvement at the cluster site.
Additionally, students will be provided with a stipend upon completion of their degree programmes. They will also be required to operate a greenhouse for one year.
Another scholarship recipient, Tomai McLean, is looking forward to participating in the programme, even as she noted that the scholarship has lifted a financial burden off her family.
The third-year student, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Technology in Agricultural Production and Food System Management, said her family made many sacrifices to pay her tuition for the first two years of the programme.
“It’s hard going to college, but it’s harder when you don’t have the financial support you need. On top of the workload, I had to worry about how my tuition will be paid and whether [I would] be able to sit exams. A burden has been lifted, and it will make the rest of my journey easier,” the 24-year-old told The Gleaner.
McLean is passionate about food security and aspires to work in the field of agro-processing.
Twenty-seven-year-old Daunja Galloway merged her love for animals and her desire to make a difference in the lives of children when she enrolled at CASE.
The third-year student is pursuing an undergraduate degree in agricultural education and expressed deep gratitude to the benefactors.
“I am glad that I am one of the recipients, and I look forward to being a part of the greenhouse cluster,” Galloway said.
In his remarks, Mining Minister Audley Shaw said that there have been long-standing and mutually beneficial relationships between the bauxite alumina companies and several sectors in Jamaica, with education being a primary one.
“This project underscores the ministry’s and JBI’s commitment to enhancing bauxite communities through education for the productive use of mined-out bauxite lands for agriculture,” he said, adding that the initiative is aimed at poverty reduction and increasing earning potential.
Shaw charged the recipients to make maximum use of their scholarships and shared with them words spoken to him by his mother when he was a child: “In the pursuit of excellence, one person can make a difference. Let that be you.”
Meanwhile, chairman of the Rio Tinto/Alcan Legacy Fund Board, Sherene Golding Campbell, shared that a portion of the fund is dedicated to loan guarantees.
“The fund secures a loan to do agricultural endeavours, agri-business, agri-processing or primary agriculture, and so I encourage the students not to think of this as just a one-off scholarship. As you leave school and become entrepreneurs, this is a fund you can come back to for support,” she said.