Volunteer project pushes youth to value substance over hype
Published:Friday | November 3, 2017 | 12:00 AMChristopher Serju
The clock is ticking for entries in the volunteer project competition which will assist participants in getting an early-childhood institution of their choice up to the required national standard.
Participants from ages 17 to 29 are invited to form groups of three to five and submit their video presentation of no more than two minutes duration outlining their project proposal
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, November 14, and, after the results are announced on Thursday, November 30, the first-place winner will receive $200,000 to go towards the execution of their project. The second-place winner will receive $100,000, with $60,000 going to the participants who place third.
Ava-Marie Ingram, corporate communications manager of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority, used Thursday's official launch to endorse the project's value as an important cog in the overall scheme of national activities to empower Jamaican youth.
"If given the opportunity to participate in personal development activities, including volunteerism from an early age, these young Jamaicans will in all likelihood develop into worthwhile citizens," she told participants at the Regent Street Early Childhood Development Centre in Denham Town, Kingston.
"As regulators and service providers for Jamaica's successful and important air transport industry, we continue to defy challenges every day as we 'conquer the sky' and reject the wisdom that 'the sky is the limit' for us," she said.
"As we continue to master navigation of the skies as Jamaica's air transport industry regulator, so, too, we do, as sponsors of this event, embrace the wisdom that not even the seemingly distant sky should be seen as a limit for our youth and little children."
Youth key to development
Describing the project, for which the theme is 'Substance Ova Hype', as an important event, Ingram charged that youth should not be sacrificed in favour of experience.
"While experience has a place, Jamaica and the world at large require the qualities of youth, if we are to develop and progress. These include the qualities of imagination, of exploration and courage over timidity, and adventure over the love of ease. This time in our nation's history requires bold measures and initiatives, such as those which can only come from the boundlessly creative and fearless minds, which our youth and children possess," she said.
The National Youth Service, One Jamaica Foundation, The Early Childhood Commission and Jamaican Civil Aviation Authority are partnering with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information to help get young Jamaicans to fully appreciate and understand the value of 'Substance Ova Hype'.