IN JAMAICA: Peter Stewart Scholarship Fund marks 10 years... Since its inception, the fund has awarded 36 students with scholarships, and 10 with grants.

Monday, July 27, 2015    

THE Peter Stewart Scholarship Fund on Saturday celebrated 10 years of helping Jamaican students to access secondary education and named five new recipients of the bursary during a lunch at Devon House in St Andrew.

Janette Stewart (left), chair of the Peter Stewart Scholarship Fund,
with scholarship recipients at Devon House on Saturday when
the fund celebrated its 10th anniversary. Stewart started the
 fund in 2005 in memory of her late husband.
 (PHOTO: GARFIELD ROBINSON)

"Peter would be so elated," said Janette Stewart, widow of the man in whose memory she launched the fund in 2005. "Though he had no children of his own, he loved children. When he died, this was the first thing I thought of doing. Trust me, he is still around."

Peter Stewart, who was the owner of automotive parts and industrial equipment company Bearings and Seals Limited, passed in 2004. Proceeds from the offering collected at his funeral were donated to Sunset Optimist Club of Kingston from which the fund emerged. They have since received sponsorship from the Supreme Ventures Foundation.

"The last 10 years have been awesome," added Stewart, who chairs the fund. "We have had some beautiful children. I see where they start, and when they leave they are completely different from how they came in."

Since its inception, the fund has awarded 36 students with scholarships, and 10 with grants. The scholarships, which increase in value as the need arises, cover the cost of tuition, books, and other school-related expenses.

Students are recommended to the fund by principals in primary schools, when they are about to transition into high school. The candidates then go through an interview process to assess their level of need.

"We aim to add two new beneficiaries each year, since the project supports them right through high school," said Cecille Hale, the fund's deputy chair. "But depending on the level of need among the students, and the great potential we see in them, it often stretches to three or four."

The five new students who will benefit from the fund this year did extremely well in their Grade Six Achievement Test and will be attending some of the Corporate Area's top schools in September. They are Fabian Stephens, who will be going to St George's College; Dominic Wray, Wolmer's Boys' School; Kymani McKenzie, Ardenne High; Tiffany Wedderburn; Wolmer's Girls' School; and Keandra Leslie, Campion College. more