St Hilda's student cops Tomlinson scholarship
Published:Thursday | September 6, 2018 | 12:00 AMCarl Gilchrist/ Gleaner Writer
TOWER ISLE, St Mary:
Grade-nine student at St Hilda's Diocesan High School in Brown's Town, St Ann, Shavine Bembridge is the 2018 recipient of the Osmond Tomlinson Trust Fund Scholarship.
Bembridge was selected at the annual awards luncheon at Couples Tower Isle Resort in St Mary ahead of four other students who had also applied for the scholarship. Students are required to sit an examination as they compete for the scholarship.
The Osmond Tomlinson Trust Fund Scholarship is awarded annually in recognition of the late Dr Osmond Tomlinson Snr, who passed away in 1998, and sees the recipient getting $40,000 per year for three years.
TOMLINSON'S LEGACY
Dr Osmond Tomlinson Jr, the overseer of the scholarship, says that his father always emphasised the importance of education as a way out of poverty and that the scholarship is an important way to honour him and keep his legacy alive.
"Education has always been the most important thing for my dad, and there are students who are excelling, and we would like to do our little bit," Tomlinson said.
Bembridge, who is from Barnstable in Trelawny, said she was happy for the scholarship.
"I am really grateful and thankful to all the panellists that chose me to be the recipient of this scholarship," she told The Gleaner. "I know that it will really help me, and I'll make sure that I'll make everyone proud."
She hopes to become a teacher of mathematics and the sciences.
Each year, the trust also offers a one-off bursary to a student at the University of the West Indies Distance Education Centre in Ocho Rios, which the late Tomlinson played a major role in helping to establish.
This year, the award went to Dianne Williams, who also expressed delight at being chosen.
The four other applicants for the scholarship, Lesley-Ann Ward of St Hilda's, Joel Lyn of York Castle High School, Jamila Brown of Marcus Garvey Technical, and Shadae Gray of Steer Town Academy, were in attendance at the function.
The 2002 recipient of the scholarship, Cieanna Smith, who is now an attorney-at-law and one of the fund's trustees, chaired the event. Two other trustees, Ilene Manning and Dr Dorothia Mathison, were also in attendance.