Rhodes Hall student is HMC 2021 Youth Mayor

WESTERN BUREAU:

Eighteen-year-old Timothy Kent, a grade-11 student of Rhodes Hall High School in Hanover, has been chosen to serve as the Hanover Municipal Corporation’s (HMC) 2021 Youth Mayor.

Kent was selected from a field of five students, representing four schools in the western parish, in what was described as an innovative and adaptive youth mayor competition, which unfolded despite the restrictions brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Municipal corporations across the island customarily select a youth council and a youth mayor during the month of November, which is celebrated locally as Local Government Month. This year’s observation was done under the theme ‘Local government at the forefront of building back stronger’.

According to Lucea’s Deputy Mayor, Andria Dehaney-Grant, who chaired the implementation committee for the Hanover Youth Mayor Competition, this year’s competition was done with a difference because of the COVID-19 restrictions.

“In this time of the pandemic, our COVID-19 version of the competition was a little different, and so we asked for schools to provide video presentations of the students doing their piece and four schools with five participants responded,” said Dehaney-Grant.

With the limited number of schools that participated, both Dehaney-Grant and Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels expressed deep and sincere appreciation to the schools that were involved.

Youth Mayor Kent was allowed to make his presentation at Thursday’s general meeting of the HMC, where he impressed his audience, which included heads of departments at HMC.

In his presentation, Kent gave an overview of his personal views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed practically all aspects of national life.

LONG-STANDING ISSUES

“The pandemic has brought out the best in us, and exposed society’s fault lines. Most of all, it has given us a new perspective on long-standing issues, issues which we will need to address if we are to rebuild,” said Kent.

He further argued that the rebuilding process must include and result in “stronger families, stronger homes, stronger communities and, by extension, a stronger Jamaica”.

The youth mayor insisted that the innovativeness and resilience of the Jamaican people must be capitalised on during the rebuilding process.

“Let us build on these things while at the forefront of building back stronger,” urged Kent.

All the participants in the competition are slated to receive a cash prize of $5,000, while the youth mayor will receive an additional $750,000 for use on a project of his choice in the parish.