KILMARNOCK, Westmoreland — Twenty years after it was established on the one-year anniversary of Hazel Watson’s death, a scholarship named for her and her husband Harrington is still transforming the lives of high school students in this rural community.

Each year the current generation of Watsons visits the community, which sits on the border of Westmoreland and St Elizabeth, and selects two high school students to help. Contenders are quizzed, on the spot, about the contents of the Bible, facts on Jamaica and, of course, what they know about Hazel Watson. The student with the highest score walks away with a $20,000 scholarship and the second-place winner gets one valued at $15,000.

“I introduced the concept of testing in order to instil the discipline of work to be rewarded,” explained Hazel’s daughter, Sonia Watson-Sangster.

She is now the main driving force behind the scholarship, working alongside her husband, Balfor Sangster; sons Loftis McLeod and Donald Sangster; and daughter Kellee Sangster-Frith. They took over after ill health sidelined her older brother, Dr Curtis Watson, who launched the scholarship on March 26, 2002.

This year’s recipients are just as grateful as others have been over the last two decades.

“I want to say a big thank you! This will be a really big help for me,” said a smiling Tara-jay Mills, a grade eight student at Hampton School who took the top prize.

She is the eldest of four children in a single-parent household, she said, and the scholarship will make a big difference in their lives.

Second-place winner, ninth-grader Dereka White wants her scholarship to go towards the purchase of the textbooks she will use at Lacovia High School. With fees to be paid for a sibling who will be sitting Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams this year, she said, the scholarship comes at the perfect time as it will help defray some of the family’s expenses.

“I want to say a big thank you to the persons who gave me this scholarship. It will be a very big help to me,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

In addition to the two lucky scholarship recipients, other members of the community were gifted with clothing, school supplies, food, and other items during this year’s award ceremony. All the items that were distributed were provided by Donald Sangster, Watson-Sangster’s youngest son.

He and his siblings have also launched a new scholarship, the Lofkedon Trophy, which is awarded to the Frome Technical High School student with the best overall performance in science in the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination. Loftis is currently head of the school’s science department. Launched in May 2021, the award is presented during the school’s prize-giving ceremony. The first recipient was D’nae Haughton, who used her scholarship to pursue midwifery at nursing school.

The good deeds being done by the Watson family are the continuation of a tradition started by the family matriarch. Those who knew her describe Hazel Watson as a kind-hearted soul who took care of her entire community during her lifetime by using all the resources she had available to her.

“My mother was the first woman to own a car in Kilmarnock. That car was the community ambulance,” said Sonia.

Other residents beamed with pride as they shared their memories of the woman they fondly called Miss Hazel.

“I knew her from I was going to school when I came to Kilmarnock in 1983,” said Jennifer Dennis. “She helped a lot of persons. She was responsible for helping so many young men to go away on the farm work programme to help their kids and build their houses. She helped many to start their careers as firemen and health aid workers. She helped lots of people as a justice of the peace. She helped many people to work in the electoral office; I am one of those people. I am working there from I was 20 years old up until the last general election.”

A lay preacher, Miss Hazel was well known within Kilmarnock. Some of her notable achievements include organising — in collaboration with the now-defunct Agricultural Marketing Corporation (AMC) — local farmers to participate in the exportation of ground produce; on behalf of the community, the successful lobbying for the area to be one of the first to participate in the Rural Electrification Programme in the early 1970s; the sourcing, coordinating and distribution of relief supplies in 1979 when the community was left stranded by flood waters; as well as coordinating and distributing aid, relief supplies and building material after Hurricane Gilbert struck in 1988.

Her family’s decision to continue giving back to the community, as she did for years, is appreciated.

“Some people find it hard financially to take care of their children so it is good that Sonia and her family decide to give back to the community,” said Jennifer Dennis.