EIGHT secondary and tertiary students have been inducted into the Youth Exposure for a great Start (YES) Club, a mentorship programme conceptualised by prominent St James businessman Noel Whyte, the managing director of N O Whyte and Associates (NOWAL).

Their ages range between 13 and 19 years.

The YES Club provides a platform for the holistic development of inductees through direct exposure to various professional disciplines, including engineering, medicine, security, communications, photography, entrepreneurship, and information technology.

Under the initiative, students typically undergo a period of internship at NOWAL and participating companies, after which time they are inducted into the club.

The first cohort of inductees are: Alex Bernard, Zoe Brown, Tevyn Campbell, Jevaughn Hayles, David McIntosh, Catherine Smith, Cherise Thompson, and Savannah Watson.

“Over the years we have had children doing work experience with us from the high school level right through to the university level. There was never the opportunity for all of these persons doing work experience getting the opportunity to meet. So I said, well, it would be nice for all of them to get together, share their experiences, and to put mentors with them. This is what we are trying to do,” Whyte told the Jamaica Observer West.

Whyte added that plans are afoot to expand the programme.

“We are going to try to get companies that we do business with [and] encourage them to be a part of the programme so that they become YES partners,” he said.