MONTEGO BAY, St James – The St James Baptist Brotherhood has awarded scholarships valued at $153,000 to 24 students who were successful in the 2004 Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) and will be starting high school this month.

The students, who are members of churches in the Jamaica Baptist Association, were presented with their cheques at a thanksgiving service held at the Salters Hill Baptist Church in the parish recently.

O’Dane Wint from Mt Carey Baptist Church was the top awardee and received the Clarence McFarlane Scholarship valued at $15,000. The other students got $6,000 each.

Since the inception of the St James Baptist Brotherhood scholarship programme nine years ago, over 200 students have benefited from educational grants valued at approximately $1 million.

Chairman of the St James Baptist Brotherhood Education Committee Wesley Fowles told JIS News that the presentation was made as part of efforts to help less fortunate Baptist parents cope with the rising cost of educating their children.

“The Brotherhood scholarships have been given over the years, following the tradition of the National Heroes and Baptist stalwarts, who, in their own way, invested in education,” he said.

Awardees, he explained, were selected based on their membership in the Baptist churches and their performance in the GSAT examinations.

Fowles said that an additional $50,000 was used to purchase an airplane ticket for a student from the Salters Hill Baptist Brotherhood, who will be attending the North Carolina University in the United States.

“This scholarship has so far motivated other parishes to follow the lead of the St James Baptist Brotherhood and so far, many promising young people have been assisted to reach their educational goals,” he said.

The main source of funding for the scholarship programme is the Brotherhood’s annual fund-raising dinner, “where all Baptist brotherhood branches and individuals across the parish give donations to make the presentations possible”, he told JIS News.

Fowles also commended the parents and other people from the parish who attended and supported the programmes of the Brotherhood. He also urged awardees to make good use of the opportunity given to them.

– JIS News