Several Jamaican students heading to the US to take up studies at the beginning of the next shcool year were schooled in points of US culture, society and weather last Wednesday by a panel of past and current Jamaicans students there.

In a pre-departure orientation seminar at the embassy’s Liguanea compound tagged The More You Know Before You Go, the students were also informed about cost effective ways to acquire books and adequate medical treatment, and were cautioned about not become distracted from their goal reminded about the reason they are going away .

“These are very god tips,” one parent exclaimed.

“I love that they made it interactive where we could talk to the panel and ask any question and not just [listen to] a boring presentation,” Roshell Pinnock said of the session. “I dread PowerPoint presentations, so I really liked that about it.”

The seminar is held annually.

“Our objectives are to assist students going to the country for the first time and help with the transition to live in the US,” Education USA advisor Eva Barnes told the Jamaica Observer.

Kimberly Drummond, an officer in the embassy’s Public Relations Department, and a former student who studied in the US, advised parents how to cope while their children are away.

“After that call to tell you they have reached, give them two to three days to settle in on their own in a new environment, around new people [that] they have to now form a bond with and give them the space to assimilate in the environment,” she said.

Some parents were seen frowning at the suggestion.

“What you need to remember is that though the US is one country there are many cultures in the country; and each state has a different culture,” Wayne Thorpe, an alum of Fulbright University said.

“You have to be tolerant; [in the US] discrimination is a crime. You can hold your own beliefs and respect the beliefs of others,” he continued, alluding to the oft-repeated description of Jamaica as homophobic.

— Jaedial Carter

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