'Service is in my bones' - After 39 years in the JCF, Colbourne-White turns to education

She spent over 39 years serving Jamaica as a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), rising to the position of senior superintendent before retiring in 2015. Yet, Patricia Colbourne-White cannot go home and relax and enjoy her retirement.

Instead, she has just started her second three-year term as a member of the board at Iona High School in Tower Isle, St Mary. As she puts it, service is in her bones.

"Iona comes under the umbrella of the United Church and I am a member of the Immanuel United Church, so it is not such a transition for me. Service is in my bones, I think," Colbourne-White told Family & Religion.

According to her, school is a place where lives are changed and where influence takes place, "and, therefore, anything we the older citizens can do to contribute to that, I think it's important to do that because, listen, I want to continue to live here, I want to siddung pon my veranda an' nuh worry 'bout the next criminal wha gwine pass an' injure me.

"I think it's an obligation that we have to ensure that the next generation of leaders are not just exposed, but they are cultured, they are socialised and they're influenced, so that they will take up public positions not just for the money but because they care about their country."

Iona has 840 students on roll and a motto that states, 'With God All Things Are Possible'. Colbourne-White wants to impart a message of similar vein to the students there and, indeed, the wider society.

"What I want to impart is that you can be anything you want to be if you're determined - that it is not where you're coming from, it is not where you're starting, it's where you're heading.

"You need to have a clear goal of yourself - what is it that you want to do, what passion you have and how can you use that passion to become a career, to improve yourself and the life of your family?

"But I think, more important, young people ought to understand that they have a responsibility to themselves to make the best use of their God-given talent and it doesn't matter what school, it don't matter how much exposure they get, if they don't decide in themselves that, listen, 'I want to make the best of my potential that God has given to me', then all of what we're surrounding them with in terms of support it won't change anything."

During her second term on the board, Colbourne-White is hoping to see the much-needed expansion of Iona High School, a need she describes as critical, with a dire need for more classrooms and an auditorium.

Encouraged

She is encouraged by the leadership of the school which sees Melva Humes-Johnson as principal and Joan Peart Armstrong, vice-principal. The board is headed by former chief education officer in the Ministry of Education, Jasper Lawrence.

"From a leadership perspec-tive, we've been fortunate that we've not had the kind of violent issues: we've had some, but not as many as other places, and I think that is because of the deliberate approach that has been taken by leadership.

"And the quality of the teaching staff is good, and when you have interactions with them they are prepared to listen and take any suggestions that can help them: they don't see it as us imposing ourselves, but rather as us working as a team to make the place a better place. I would want to see the school become the Campion around here, the preferred place where people want to send their children."

familandreligion@gleanerjn.com