Pocket Rocket Foundation (PRF) Chairperson Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce says more positive role models are needed in society.

She said this in the context of public discourse which in recent weeks has concerned the censorship of negative influences, such as “choppa (scamming) music”, on Jamaican youth.

Fraser-Pryce spoke to the Jamaica Observer at PRF’s Scholarship Awards Presentation yesterday, where scholar-athletes received scholarships for the remainder of their secondary-school lives.

Fraser-Pryce is a five-time 100m World Champion and multiple-time Olympic champion who grew up in the lower-income community of Waterhouse in St Andrew. She says volunteerism means more to her than just giving, but being aware of the responsibility she has to be a positive role model to young men and women in Jamaica.

“Volunteerism doesn’t just mean money,” she said. “It’s time, it’s effort, it’s mentorship. It’s making sure that you can identify a community; even if you’re not from a poor community or the inner city, identify one. Take some time out, and learn what’s happening in the communities. Get to learn about a couple of students and take them out and show them around. Just be a part of their lives, because I think it’s life-changing for many of these young people in these communities who don’t know anything beyond that [negative influences]. So, it’s exposing them to different things that they can see gives them hope, and helps them to know that there’s not only one lifestyle and they can choose a different path.”

Seven scholar-athletes were awarded scholarships valued at $190,000 per year. Digicel, one of the sponsors, provided tablets valued at $25,000 in each recipient’s package, as well as mobile credit valued at $2,000 each. Hi-Lo Supermarket, another sponsor, also provided a gift certificate valued at $10,000 each, as did GraceKennedy, another of PRF’s sponsors. Nike, another of PRF’s sponsors, also donated a gift card valued at $15,000 and backpacks worth $7,500. Book vouchers valued at $15,000 were also included in each package.

Fraser-Pryce says that PRF has bestowed scholarships this year with the intention of giving each student the opportunity to dream far beyond what they ever thought would be possible.

“It definitely gives me a lot of pride,” she said. “That’s how I got my start and to be able to help fuel the dreams of these student-athletes is where the blessing is for me. The Pocket Rocket Foundation exists because of that – making sure that student-athletes are able to strike a balance because having that balance is difficult. Also having the balance and then thinking about the next meal, or the book, or the shoes, and where mommy is going to get the money from is just absolutely worrisome at times. So, to be able to give these recipients this scholarship, and this year, to be able to increase the scholarship to $190,000 is just awesome.”

PRF Executive Director Dr Jermaine McCalpin says these scholarships are awarded in a way that reminds each scholar-athlete to balance their athletic pursuits with their scholastic goals.

“I tell students all the time, as a university professor, ‘You can retrieve many things in your life’,” he said. “‘You can have an injury that causes you to be on the sideline, but no one can repossess your education.’

“Education is valuable irrespective of whether you have a future in sport or a future in the wider society. That’s what we emphasise at the Pocket Rocket Foundation – scholar-athletes.”

To ensure that each recipient maintains the standard required of the scholarship, PRF will monitor each student’s academic performance, with the expectation that they maintain an average grade of 60 per cent at the end of each academic year. PRF will also monitor each awardee’s participation in their respective sporting discipline, as well as their conduct and school attendance throughout the academic year.

This year’s recipients:

Ranicka Bryan, Convent of Mercy – Netball

Athilia Pryce, Clarendon College – Track and field

Zavier Brown, York Castle High – Track and field

Kymani Francis, Alphanso Davis High – Football

Kaysian Sewell, Wolmer’s Girls’ School – Track and field

Cael Samuels, Wolmer’s Boys’ School – Football

Euvia Bennett, St Elizabeth Technical High School – Track and field