Tiffany's honesty lights up Priory Primary School
Nine-year-old finds $10,000, turns it over |
CARL GILCHRIST, Observer staff reporter
Friday, January 07, 2005
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| Tiffany gets a hug from her mom Paula Saunders
(Photos: Carl Gilchrist)
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Tiffany Evans is the typical nine-year-old from a modest background.
Her mother Paula Saunders faces the daily challenge of finding sufficient funds to send her daughter to school, but while Tiffany has little materially and goes to school irregularly, she is rich in what counts - the right values.
Tiffany, a grade four student at Priory Primary and Infant School in Priory, St Ann, and one of 811 students on roll, is now in the spotlight for turning over thousands of dollars, having found it at her school.
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| Tiffany... found a pile of money and turned it over to her teacher |
On December 9 last year, just after morning devotions, she found a bundle of money in the bathroom - it turned out to be $10,000 - and took it to her form teacher, Du-Warner McKenzie.
A parent who had taken her child to school, had gone to use the facility and inadvertently dropped the money.
To some students, or even adults, finding $10,000 two weeks before Christmas would have been an ideal holiday payload, but to Tiffany there was only one thing to do.
"Carry it to the teacher," she told the Observer.
Tiffany, who is obviously shy, gave only short answers in the interview, and did not respond to some.
The fourth-grader, who says she loves mathematics, was overwhelmed by the attention she was receiving from the school community and the news team, and spoke only after several urgings.
For her, what she did was simply the right thing, and asked who had taught her that, she replied simply: "My mother."
She claims not to be an outstanding student, but on Wednesday she was the toast of the school.
During devotions, Tiffany was presented with a gift, a token from the school to let her know that everyone - teachers, students and family members - were all very proud of her honesty.
"I always tell her that I grow with my grandmother and that she always tell me that, you see these 10 fingers, leave them alone whenever you see people things. So I try tell her that whatever you see and you want, you ask for it instead of taking it," said her mother, beaming with pride at her daughter's integrity.
"I feel very proud of her because normally some would find it and take it to their parents or whatever but if she did even bring it home I would take it back to the school," Saunders said with a sense of satisfaction.
Tiffany's action is even more outstanding when viewed against the background of her humble upbringing.As a single parent raising two daughters, things can get difficult financially for her mother.
Asked why Tiffany was not attending school regularly, Saunders, bright and chirpy throughout the interview, lowered her voice for the first time.
"Tell you the truth, sometimes ... to be honest, it's a little hard. Sometimes I can't send her," she said.
Class teacher McKenzie describes Tiffany's deed as inspiring to other students. And as for Tiffany, she wishes at times someone else had found the money.
"She doesn't like the spotlight, as you can see. She at times wish it was not her because of the crowd and everything but she felt good and it's a genuine thing. She did not do it to get fame or anything; she gave me the money genuinely, very innocent," McKenzie said.
Principal Beverly Black and board chairman Eric Williams both expressed delight at what had taken place at the institution with Black saying Tiffany's action was, in part, the end result of a programme the school has implemented to encourage students to do the right thing.
"I realised that something must be done with the young one who are here so as to inculcate this habit of honesty, therefore, we have been using little incentives and little encouragement to get them to bring what they found to either the teacher or principal," said Black.
She said that Tiffany's handing over of the $10,000 had brought the programme to its peak.
The board chairman also paid tribute to the school's effort and Tiffany's upbringing at home.
"I think it speaks volume to the home from which she is coming as well as the school community because it means the right values were instilled in her, and I think that forced her to make a return of this money that she found," said Williams.
-gilchristc@jamaicaobserver.com
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