TWO special needs students — Jeneard Williamson and Sonya Harvey — are among this year’s recipients of financial aid from the Capital & Credit Financial Group.

“I am elated to have been awarded a scholarship from Capital & Credit. With the scholarship, I am now able to go to extra classes and better aid my education,” said an elated Williamson, who is receiving assistance for the second time in two years.

The 17-year-old student of Mona High School is paralysed from the waist down, but refuses to be held back by his disability. He has managed to maintain the grade average required by the financial institution to retain his scholarship.

Harvey, 14, a hearing impaired student of the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, has herself communicated her gratitude for the financial group’s help. She and Williamson received scholarships valued at $40,000 each, and Capital & Credit has said they are committed to advancing the amount offered to each student, based on their immediate needs and the fees charged by their respective schools.

Twenty-one other students also received scholarships. They included first-time recipients:

* Sapphire Folkes of Alpha Academy;

* Tamika Smith of Mico University College; and

* Tyrone Davis of the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE).

Second-time recipients included:

* Christopher Parkes of CASE;

* Nigel Brady of Wolmer’s Boys School; and

* Patrice Fuller of Alpha Academy.

Three-time recipients, who formed the bulk of those awarded, included:

* Ave Frank of Montego Bay Community College;

* Jodian Prawl of Bethlehem Moravian College; and

* Marlon Johnson of Mico University College, who all received scholarships valued at $210,000 each.

Rounding out the list of three-time recipients were:

* Abigail Thompson of St Hugh’s High;

* Andre Josephs and Rushawn Miller, both of Campion College;

* Colleisha Parchment of St Andrew High;

* Dushawn Barnes of Wolmer’s Boys;

* Jahmal Wilson of Ardenne High;

* Prince Moodie of Jamaica College;

* Roshay Ximines of Meadowbrook High;

* Shamar Llewellyn of York Castle High; and

* Shanai Jones of Calabar High School, who all received scholarships valued at $40,000 each.

Abigayle McKenzie and Sherika Anderson, grade 11 students at St Andrew High School and Wolmer’s Girls respectively — both of them five-time recipients of Capital and Credit scholarships — completed the list of awardees for the 2010/2011 academic year.

Capital & Credit awarded its first scholarship in 1996, two years after they opened their doors. The following year, the Capital & Credit Scholarship Awards Programme was born, as a part of the organisation’s commitment to education and nation building. In the years since then, the group has tried to discover and help under-privileged students, who desire to pursue their education locally, whether at the secondary or tertiary level.