Dear Editor,

The HEART/NSTA Trust 2023 Instructor Service Excellence Awards took centre stage on August 17 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, hosting managing directors, deputy managing directors, principals, esteemed guests, and, of course, its coveted instructors.

By no means was it a coincidence that the ceremony was held on the birthday of Jamaica’s first National Hero Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

The brainchild of Edward Phillip George Seaga, the HEART/NSTA Trust came into existence in 1982 (known then as HEART Trust/NTA), with the aim of tackling underdevelopment in Jamaica. Its mandate is to create a world-class labour force, envisioned to inspire, empower, and strengthen the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) of Jamaicans desirous of personal and professional development.

The theme of the event, ‘Empowering minds, transforming futures, and honouring excellence’, is an archetype of what HEART/NSTA Trust continually strives for: excellent customer service provided by its instructors. The awards ceremony organisers stayed true to the theme and provided patrons with an evening of excellence and concretised motivation for continuous improvement as Jamaica transitions to republic status.

The Britannica Dictionary states that excellence is synonymously tied to an extremely high quality. Oftentimes, this runs parallel with achieving academic excellence and top-quality work performance. But rest assured, excellence can also be found in actions that may appear inconsequential on the surface.

As simple as cleaning one’s room, offering a stranger monetary assistance, or providing emotional support to family/loved ones during hard times can demonstrate excellence, once done well. The motto of my alma mater Excelsior High School has resonated throughout my life — Age Animo — ‘Do it with thy might’.

From my perspective, excellence matters once the outcomes are morally and ethically beneficial to the individual and their network.

The keynote speaker, the affable Dr Amina Blackwood Meeks, eloquently shared her priceless memories of Dr Louise Bennett-Coverley and provided insight that revealed that we may not know Garvey as well as we think.

She was right, as I did in-depth research on the renowned activist. One of his quotes that struck me was “Progress is the attraction that moves humanity.”

Howard Messam gave an out-of-this-world performance with the alto saxophone, playing classic songs such as Say a little Prayer by Aretha Franklin and giving a history lesson on the saxophone, its introduction and rise to prominence in post-Independence Jamaica.

A truly inspirational event to behold.

I will personally use this as motivation to refine my path to excellence. The path to excellence is not without its impediments and challenges, and can be rather narrow and lonely. In spite of this, it shouldn’t stop one from reaching his/her final destination.

Dujean Edwards

Adjunct lecturer

University of the Commonwealth Caribbean

dujeanedwards@gmail.com