PERSONALISED hard hats completed the Jamaica Private Power Company’s (JPPC) scholarship package to 10 East Kingston students, who all earned above 85 per cent in the 2014 sitting of the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

The students were presented with their awards two Thursdays ago at a GSAT scholarship breakfast held in their honour at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

Together the scholarships value $2.5 million to be spent over the next five years as the JPPC adds to its continued investment in the communities surrounding its power plants.

Speaking at the ceremony, General Manager for the JPPC Ingrid Christian-Baker noted that the scholarships signal the Rockfort-based power plant ‘s commitment to empower the dreams of people in communities where they operate.

“At the Jamaica Private Power Company we are big on community. We are big on lives. We are big on dreams. And today is about empowering dreams. For the nearly 20 years that we have been part of Jamaica’s power supply network we have been playing a very involved role in the communities that surround our plant,” she noted.

“We do this not just because we are in the business of power generation, but we are also in the business of empowerment. Today we step up to empower the dreams and lives of 10 families. Lives we hope will be changed for the better, forever,” she emphasised.

Pointing out the importance of such corporate goodwill, Mayor of Kingston Angella Brown-Burke noted that “the type of corporate social responsibility that JPPC engages in is something we have to promote and laud”.

“Education is a fundamental right and one of the areas that I believe can truly make an inter-generational difference,” she said.

While encouraging the scholarship recipients to excel, State Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Julian Robinson also commended the JPPC for

its support.

“I commend the JPPC for the work it is doing and encourage you [the students] to reach out further and further as these scholarships are so critical for our education development… we have 10 young, bright Jamaicans who will do Jamaica very well at some stage,” he said.

Each year the JPPC will recognise the efforts and seek to empower the dreams of new families from the communities.