Courts scholarships give students major boost

Courts Jamaica recently hosted its seventh staging of the Courts Customer Scholarship Awards Ceremony, at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston. More than 40 scholarships valued at more than $8 million were awarded to customers as part of the Dare to Dream Courts Customer Scholarship initiative.

Courts continues to positively change the lives of Jamaicans through its scholarship programmes. The scholarships aim to assist persons who are in need financially to achieve their educational goals.

In his opening remarks, Unicomer Jamaica managing director, Dennis Harris, said the selection process was very rigorous.

"All recipients sitting here have gone through stringent preliminary rounds of selection based on a set of comprehensive assessment criteria, " Harris said.

"Apart from an illustrious track record of academic and non-academic achievements, we look for qualities of an active learner, such as reflective thinking and creativity," he added.

Two of this year's recipients, Monique and Yanique Dixon, said they were introduced to the programme by their parents, who have been Courts customers for years.

"This means a lot to us because it has created a pathway for us to help our parents by helping to relieve the expenses. We actually applied for a lot of scholarships, and we were glad when we received the Courts scholarship," Monique told The Gleaner.

Another courts customer, Trecia Murray, mother of Theresa Gentles, one of the Grade Six Achievement Test recipients, said she was introduced to the scholarship programme by her daughter's teacher.

"This means a lot because as a single parent to receive this form of help, [it] is great," Murray said.

The scholarship applications open in June and close in July annually.