IN two weeks, Dwayne Smith will graduate from Excelsior Community College with a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology. It’s almost a miracle for the 33-year-old who, up to two years ago, was struggling to fulfil his financial obligations to the institution.

At the beginning of his third year, Smith found himself faced with such desperation that he decided to ignore his personal dislike for borrowing and began making the necessary payments to EduCom Co-operative Credit Union so that he could qualify for an unsecured loan which had a maximum value of $250,000. His intention was to meet the deadline for his next tuition payment.

While he hustled to get his loan application together, he became aware of EduCom’s Dennis Scott Memorial Award, which targets students pursuing Information Technology. He barely got the documents in on time, but he was successful.

It was a load off his shoulders, which meant he could pay undivided attention to studying and maintaining good grades to qualify a second time for the EduCom scholarship.

Smith is not the only student singing EduCom’s praises. This year, the credit union, which is a merger of the UWI, Mona and AAMM credit unions, awarded 108 students across all educational levels, with each receiving between $10,000 and $150,000. The awardees are either members of the credit union or the family of members.

The awards, which totalled $2 million, were presented at an awards ceremony held at the Knutsfort Court Hotel in Kingston.

The academic scholarships were divided into five categories: GSAT awardees, Teach Awardees, Dennis Scott Memorial Award, Astley Hibbert Memorial Award, Ezra Lewis Memorial Award and the EduCom Special Award, each addressing different specialty areas including education, science and Information Technology.

Chief Executive Officer of the credit union, Elvis King, said EduCom believes in the children of Jamaica, and is committed to providing support for them as they strive in their educational pursuits because it is the avenue through which the country will reap its success.

Guest speaker at the event, Children’s Advocate and National Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, Diahann Gordon Harrison encouraged the children to respect and appreciate their parents and the effort they make to ensure that they are comfortable.

“Children tend to take their parents for granted, but take note: your parents make a lot of sacrifices — those that you may know and others that you may never learn of until another 20 years,” she admonished.

She also used the opportunity to empathise with struggling students who are failing because they don’t have the requisite support and structure to stay clear of various distractions. In that vein, she commended EduCom for its contribution to the financial support of many families.

Roje Adamson, who copped Educom’s top GSAT award, gave the vote of thanks on behalf of the 2015 cohort of awardees. His parents, Shawn Adamson and Melonie Dixon, said it was no surprise that their son got the top award. They said they prepared for his educational development even before his birth. His father noted that this was his second scholarship, having received a government scholarship recently.

“We are grateful for these scholarships because they will be a major contributor to offset fees associated with purchasing books and ancillary fees,” Dixon explained.

Roje graduated from Windward Road Primary and Junior High and will be attending Campion College in September.

He told the Jamaica Observer that he knew what his family expected of him and all he had to do was to remain focused.