Comedic entertainer Owen “Blakka” Ellis put on his educator hat last Wednesday when he urged students awarded Burger King scholarships to shun negative influences as they strive for academic excellence.

Ellis told the boys: “We live in a world where men seem to prefer to follow negative influences – gangster, garrison, Gaza, Gully, ganja – instead of positive influences like generosity, gentleness, grace, good, God. Use your scholarships wisely. Stay positive and you will have awesome results.”

To the girls, he said: “Do not allow yourself to be defined by your body image; study hard, achieve your total awesomeness.”

Ellis was guest speaker at the event at which Restaurant Associates Limited, through its Burger King brand, presented approximately $4.2 million in scholarships, bursaries and grants.

At the awards ceremony, held at the Knutsford Court Hotel with the theme ‘Awesome’, head of sales and marketing at Burger King Sabrena McDonald Radcliffe announced four new scholarships in the 17-year-long education-funding programme — Burger King Tertiary Scholarship, Burger King/UWI Scholarship, Burger King Social Media Scholarships, and Burger King Sports Bursary. The awards totalled $800,000 in new funding.

Restaurant Associates’ newest brand, Little Caesars Pizza, also awarded a $250,000-tertiary scholarship.

“What we’re recognising is that more and more young people are producing these awesome examination results, and facing great difficulty in accessing funding,” said McDonald Radcliffe. “We want to say to our children, you’ve done your part, you did well, Burger King, and now Little Caesars Pizza, will do our part for as many young scholars as we can. All we ask in return is for continued excellence as they move on to the next level of studies, and for a commitment to use their brilliance and talents for Jamaica’s benefit.”

The fast food company quotes the value of its support to education in Jamaica over the past 17 years at more than $30 million.

Speaking to the social media awards, McDonald Radcliffe McDonald said they were developed with the understanding that young people spend a great deal of time on social media.

“We wanted to use the dynamic platform to allow young scholars to market themselves,” she said, explaining that students in fifth and sixth form were encouraged to upload a three-minute video to Facebook about why education is the key to solving Jamaica’s social and economic challenges.

“The videos sparked lively debate and discussion on Facebook and gave applicants an opportunity to earn a one-year scholarship. Two students won scholarships based on the number of likes their videos received, combined with their academic performance. We’re very encouraged by the level of engagement as between the two winners they garnered over 3,000 likes, comments and shares,”she informed.

The awards were presented to:

Primary — GSAT ($40,000 per year for five years)

• Kayona Campbell

• Ronaldhino McLean

• Jada Lee Smith

• Jovonte Witter

Valda Ormsby Scholarship ($40,000 per year for five years)

• Jovanae Onfroy

Lois Sherwood Scholarship ($300,000 per year for three years to a sixth-form student of St Andrew High School for Girls)

• Tassan Stewart

Rodwell Lake Scholarship ($300,000 per year for three years to a sixth form student of St George’s College)

• Hykel Nunes

Edna Manley Art Bursary ($100,000 for one year to a final year student of Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts)

• Sasheina Marie Williams

Open Tertiary Scholarship ($300,000 for three years)

• Akeem Neil

Social Media Scholarship ($50,000 each for one year)

• Giovanni Tennant

• Joyce White

Burger King Sports Bursary ($100,000 for one year)

• Brittany Anderson

Little Caesars Pizza Tertiary Scholarship ($200,000 for a first year student)