TWELVE students from four high schools in Manchester have received well-needed financial support towards the sitting of their exams through an initiative by iLiveja.

The beneficiaries are from deCarteret College, Winston Jones High, Porus High and Manchester High schools.

Founder of iLiveja Opal Noble-Rhoe told Career & Education recently that her non-profit organisation had launched a Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) drive to raise funds for the initiative.

She added that it was significant to her, as she believes that students need motivation.

“A lot of students lose self-confidence when it comes to academics. Some students do not have anybody to pay for their subjects and they miss many opportunities, so I decided to do the CSEC drive,” she said.

The 28-year-old Food for the Poor donations relations officer said she started iLiveja in May 2019 and has expanded the organisation’s reach with a student from Charlemont High also being a beneficiary this year.

She explained how the beneficiaries were selected from the five schools.

“I got in touch with the guidance counsellors from the schools and they selected the students who would have [most] needed the assistance,” she said.

She added that the donation was not limited to any particular subject area.

“I just wanted to know they are students who are trying, but they just needed a little help financially, just for somebody to believe in them,” she said.

She thanked her husband, friends and donors who supported the CSEC drive.

“For the last two years iLiveja has been able to sponsor a few CSEC students by paying for each a maximum of three subjects with the help of donors,” she said.

She said the aim is to have the initiative yearly.

“The first year my target was $14,000 and I was able to raise $18,000 to help one student. For this academic year I went bigger and raised $200,000, surpassing my target of $172,000,” she added.