VIEWING the prestigious Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence as an honour for which young, up-and-coming athletes should strive and build character, CHASE has been inviting selected schools to attend the award ceremony.

The organisation has taken this a step further by, last year, establishing an award to recognise two outstanding students (a male and female) at the secondary education level, under the umbrella of the annual Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence.

This year’s staging of the event is scheduled to take place on Thursday, October 16, at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

“It is easy for these young athletes to get carried away and believe the hype of their early successes and popularity. We see this as a catalyst to help steer them in the right direction, and hopefully let them consider the negative consequences of making indiscreet choices in their anxiety to get to the top of their game,” noted Wilford ‘Billy’ Heaven, chief executive officer of CHASE.

Student of Excellence Awards

The first awards, which coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund, were presented to Mark Parchment of Munro College and Janell Dalberry of St Jago High School.

Both students met the criteria set by the selection committee of having displayed exceptional qualities in their academic performance and for demonstrating team commitment and good tenets of fair play while representing their schools in sports.

Schools are asked to nominate one student who meets the criteria. They must be Jamaican nationals and currently in grades 10 to 13. All nominations must be submitted by the principal of the secondary institution and should include a report explaining why the student is being nominated for the award.

The attractive prizes for the Student Excellence Awards include: a trophy for the male and female awardees; a computer tablet, courtesy of Supreme Ventures Foundation for each award recipient, plus one year of Internet service. The schools of the awardees will also receive the Supreme Ventures Foundation plaque; $250,000 towards the development of a specific school project which will benefit the student of the institution as well as one year Internet service.