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M&M Jamaica increases investment in education

Published:Wednesday | August 8, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Donald Foster (left), president, STETHS Past Student Association and Donald ‘Don’ Mullings (second left), managing director at M&M Jamaica present a mathematical teaching aid to Kisha Francis-Forrest, head of Mathematics Department at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS). Looking on is Richard Mullings, director at M&M Jamaica.

Civil engineering firm M&M Jamaica Limited, through its Chance Fund, has again boosted its outreach programme with six new tertiary scholarships for promising and deserving students. The successful applicants may access up to $375,000 per year for four years, Managing Director Don Mullings said.

This announcement was made at a recent ceremony held at the company's Kingston offices where Mullings, along with company Director, Richard Mullings and several members of staff handed over $500,000 worth of mathematics equipment to St Elizabeth Technical High School's (STETHS) head of Mathematics Department, Kisha Francis-Forrest.

She was accompanied by other members of staff and students, president of the Past Students Association, Donald Foster, along with Kimone Thompson, past student. The equipment is for use in the mathematics department. In addition, one of the six new scholarships will be awarded to a student or graduate of STETHS pursuing mathematics or engineering at the tertiary level.

 

School selection

 

Referencing the scholarships, Don Mullings explained that STETHS was selected because of the school's participation in the company's annual mathematics competition, and also because several members of the company's management team are graduates of the school.

Meanwhile, the remaining five scholarships will be awarded to applicants from communities in which the engineering and project management firm has completed major projects. These include Old Harbour, St Catherine; Brompton, St Elizabeth; St Ann's Bay/Ocho Rios area, St Ann; Tarrant, St Andrew; and Kingston and St Andrew (Vineyard Town/Franklyn Town, Kingston 5; August Town/Lawrence Tavern, Kingston 6; and Constant Spring, Kingston 8).

In accepting the donation, Francis-Forrest expressed gratitude on behalf of the STETHS family for the company's support. The supplies, she explained, would further the school's existing initiatives to improve students' performance in mathematics which is already bearing fruit, with passes in the subject moving from 30 to 85 per cent over a relatively short period.

The teacher also congratulated Don Mullings for his foresight in establishing the M&M Mathematics Competition and for creating avenues to assist students requiring financial aid to improve themselves.

The M&M Scholarship programme is financed through the M&M Chance Fund, established to drive the company's outreach programmes, which include the M&M Mathematics Competition for high schools in St Elizabeth and other charitable projects.