Random supermarket meet-up led Najae Murray to $8 million Chevening/Oliver Clarke Scholarship

If you ask Najae Murray, a 2024 Jamaican Chevening scholar, why he applied for the prestigious British government’s offering, his response would more than likely be because of “a chance encountered in a supermarket”.

Last week, Murray was announced as the recipient of a newly created special two-year scholarship called the Chevening/Jamaica National (JN) Oliver F. Clarke Scholarship, valued at approximately £39,600 (J$8.1 million).

The JN Oliver F. Clarke Scholarship is the first Chevening Partner Award to be established in Jamaica. It has been established in honour of the late chairman of the Board of Directors of The Jamaica National Group, media mogul and business stalwart Oliver F. Clarke, who died in 2020.

After talking in a supermarket with a friend and former co-worker, Deandra Morrison, who was on the brink of going off on a Chevening scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year, Murray was encouraged to apply. Together, they immediately started the application, a decision for which he now has no regrets.

“On that day, I had gone to Manchester to pick up my cousin to bring him to The University of the West Indies, Mona, and he was staying by my apartment, and we wanted to make some ackee and saltfish. We did not have any saltfish, so we went to the supermarket,” the 26-year-old, who is the director of public relations and communication at the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ), told The Gleaner during last Thursday’s annual Chevening send-off ceremony, held at the Windrush Gardens, British High Commission, in St Andrew.

Make education more accessible

“I saw my friend, Deandra, and she said, ‘You should definitely apply’. But I said, ‘I have a master’s already’, and she said, ‘That’s not a problem. Find something that you want to solve in Jamaica’, and that I did. I saw the pursuit of education and accessibility [and] what I wanted to achieve in higher education in Jamaica,” he said.

Murray, who grew up in St Ann and is a graduate of Ferncourt High School, will be pursuing a Master of Arts in Education and International Development at the University College London (UCL). He currently holds a Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Marketing and Communication from the Caribbean School of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) and a Master of Science in Media Management, a joint programme between CARIMAC and the Mona School of Business.

Murray said this particular degree programme was also inspired by another colleague at his work place, who believes that this programme can help the UCJ make accessibility to higher education more readily available.

“It will help me cut out the time [that] I have to spend with the technical persons because I would now have become a technical person. So in that sense, I will be more efficient and effective at my job at the UCJ and possibly move on one day to something much more deep-rooted in education, coming out of education, and focus on policy development as we look towards accessibility,” Murray said.

He recalled that the application was a tumultuous one-month process for him as applicants have to write convincing essays explaining why their areas of study are important and why the British government should decide to spend on them.”

If you ask Murray what he is looking forward to the most in the United Kingdom, he would say to experiencing the magic at Harry Potter Studios London, which he sees as a degree in and of itself.

He also worked previously with the Ministry of National Security, alongside Morrison, in 2019.

Competitive field

For her part, during her address, Judith Slater, British high commissioner to Jamaica and the evening’s reception host, said she was pleased to know from Murray that he started his application based on a conversation in a supermarket with a previous scholar.

She also said that she hoped the trailblazing move by the JN Foundation would inspire other Jamaican companies to partner with Chevening.

Slater said the competition for the 13 finalised spots in the Chevening scholarship in Jamaica this year was just as competitive as the track and field trials Jamaicans are known for on the international stage and in preparation for the Olympics.

“We’re really proud to be sending off 13 really talented young Jamaicans this year, giving them an opportunity to spend a year in the UK on a fully funded Chevening Master’s scholarship. As always, these 13 are from a really competitive field of applicants, so you can feel justifiably proud of your achievement,” Slater said.

“I’m very excited to learn that this year’s scholars will pursue fields of study as diverse as energy and climate change, sports, biomechanics, data science and analytics, education, international development, various different niches in the fields of law, regulation, compliance, brand management, technology and telecommunications. So you’ve pretty much got it covered,” she said.

She also said that it would be the first time a Jamaican scholar would be attending the University of Roehampton London, which is “a stone’s throw” from where she lives in the UK.

Also congratulating the scholars was Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, who reminded them that they were selected from a pool of a highly competitive nature comprising approximately 60,000 applicants worldwide and represented areas from across the island, including Clarendon, Manchester, St Ann, St James, Westmoreland, Kingston, and St Andrew.

Also present was Marsha Smith, state minister in the Ministry of Education and Youth.

There are now 60,000 Chevening scholars around the world, of which 310 are Jamaicans.

Chevening scholarship offerings remain the British government’s flagship scholarship programme for nurturing global leaders and enabling them to flourish academically, professionally, and culturally.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com

The other scholars and their academic programmes for the 2024-2025 academic year include:

• Lenexa Rhoden, a Master of Law (LLM) in Energy and Climate Change at Queen Mary University of London;

• Janielle McKoy, Master of Science in Medical Physics with Radiobiology at the University of Oxford;

• Nathanael Amore, LLM in Entertainment Law at the University of Westminster, London;

• Renee McDonald, LLM in Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Law at Queen Mary University of London;

• Shantal Artwell, Master of Arts in Employment Law and Human Resource Management at the University of Roehampton, London;

• Oluwatomilayo Bewaji Edokpa, Master of Science in Clinical Dermatology at King’s College London;

• Tajay Grant, Master of Science in Sport and Exercise Biomechanics at Leeds Beckett University;

• Sayeed Bernard, LLM at Queen Mary University of London;

• Jomarie Malcolm Gordon, Master of Arts in Brand Management at Coventry University;

• Anthony McKenzie, Master of Science in Regulation at London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London;

• Toni-Ann Taylor, a Master of Science in Statistics with Data Science at the University of Edinburgh;

• Sonya Murray, Master of Arts in International Development and Education at Newcastle University.

The following are the thoughts of some of this year’s Chevening scholars on how they felt after being awarded:

Jomarie Malcolm, Master of Arts in Brand Management at Coventry University

“Why I chose that programme? Because I’m passionate about brand strategy, and I really wanted to get the skills to do so because they’re not a lot of brand strategists in Jamaica, and so I really want to come back and contribute to that space in a positive way.”

Sayeed Bernard, LLM at Queen Mary University of London

“I am elated. It’s a dream come true. [As a] youth from country, single parent. My mother has been amazing and she’s my inspiration behind all of this, and it’s about further education and I’m ready to go and do my master’s in law.”

Anthony McKenzie, Master of Science in Regulation at London School of Economics and Political Science

“I decided to apply for the scholarship because I wanted to contribute to nation building, so I am doing that..., and I hope to impact, particularly, the twin-peak regulatory framework that the GoJ is building out, so that is the reason why I applied for the scholarship.”