MARTHA BRAE, Trelawny

Oshane Warren was having one of his usual hectic days in school last week. It was 4:00 pm, he had just finished his art project and was hoping to get home – some 20 miles away – within an hour to rest, before tackling other assignments.

As the grade 1 student made his way along the corridor at the Holland High School in Trelawny, he stumbled on a bulky brown wallet.

He could have made off with it – no one would have been the wiser – however, without even examining its contents, the 17-year-old boy immediately alerted his art teacher, Kevin McIntyre, who promptly accompanied him to the Principal’s office to report the matter.

On examination, the wallet was found to contain $59,000 in cash along with a TRN card, a national identification card and a piece of paper with several telephone numbers scribbled on it.

It was later discovered that the wallet belonged to a male parent, a farmer living in the parish.

By the next day the wallet was returned to its rightful owner.

When the story came out, some branded Oshane a fool, while others praised him.

But while the art-loving eleventh grader, who will be sitting six CXC subjects next year, says he is overwhelmed by the attention he has been receiving from residents, the school community and the general public, he never considered keeping the money.

“If I had taken the money I would have felt very bad, ” he said. “I know the pain that my mother felt when she was robbed last year – she felt a lot of pain…. I saw her crying… so I know that man (parent) must have been feeling a lot of pain when he found out that he had lost that money… so with that in mind, I know that I did the right thing,” he said, sporting a broad smile.

Given his modest means and the current economic challenges facing the country, Oshane’s action is outstanding.

However, principal of the school Pauleen Reid said the institution was not surprised.

“We were not surprised because it is not the first time that students here have been returning money – large sums and small sums. But we are very happy that whatever values we are trying to instill in the students here, they are being enforced at home,” she said.

“I have had dialogue with Oshane’s mother and I recognised that she supports all that we are doing. Additionally, because I know Oshane and the type of person he is, that (his handing over the money) didn’t shock me at all. He is an outstanding student and very committed to his work and one that always stands up for anything that is right,” she emphasised. His mother Carlene Warren told the Observer West on Tuesday that she was very proud of her son’s honesty.

” I feel very proud of what he did. I always tell him that he should not take things that do not belong to him,” she said, beaming. In the meantime, a number of people are curious to know if Oshane was rewarded for his honesty.

“I don’t like that… when people say that to me it gets me ‘off’. The only thing they seem to care about is how much I got. They don’t seem to consider that the person who lost the money could be badly in need of it,” he said.

Holland High opened its doors in September 2005 with 400 students. Since then, the student population at the co-educational institution has almost tripled to 1,100.