SANDALS Resorts International will spend $400,000, this school year, to meet the educational needs of 20 students to whom they have awarded their annual Sandals Community Scholarships.

“While for some this may be a case of Sandals giving away some money, for us the event has far greater significance,” said director of corporate communications for Sandals Resorts International, Leo Lambert, at Thursday’s awards ceremony. “As far as we are concerned, today represents another investment by us in the future. We believe that many of our children who end up as social deviants have the potential to be prime ministers, ministers of education. What has made the difference in many respects is not the lack of ability, but rather the lack of opportunity.”

This is the fifth year that the hotel chain has awarded scholarships to needy students who might otherwise not have been able to attend secondary school because of financial constraints. To date, 67 students have benefited from the programme.

Last year, 14 scholarships were awarded at a cost of $250,000. This year, the total value of the scholarships awarded has been placed at $400,000.

The awardees have been five-time recipients, having first been selected when the programme was launched in 1997. Three students have been in the programme for the past four years, one has benefited for three years in a row, two have benefited for two consecutive years, and this year, there were seven new students selected.

Over the years, scholarship recipients have had to maintain a B plus average, exhibit exemplary behaviour, and show signs of continuous improvement. And despite some of the awardees’ failure to make the grade this year, they received partial scholarships.

“Those who didn’t make the grade this time will be given partial scholarships,” Lambert said. “For those getting partial scholarships, this is another opportunity for you to live up to the potential that we know you have.”

At Thursday’s awards ceremony, second year student at Mannings High School, Amoya Roxborough, was named the overall top performer for last year.

“During the last academic year, she passed all nine subjects with A’s and B’s to place third in a class of 42 and to end the school year with an average of 82.1 per cent,” Lambert said.

Fifth form student at the Mount Alvernia High School, Kameka Harris, was the runner up top performer, a position she has attained for the second year in a row.

“During the last academic year, she passed all 10 subjects, scoring consistently in the 70’s and 80’s with an average of 78.63 percent,” Lambert said.

Sandals Resorts International has vowed to continue to provide the funding for existing scholarship recipients who are now in their final year at school but who wish to continue to sixth form.