With tears streaming down his face as he collected the NCB Foundation’s Dr Rickert Allen Scholarship, new university student Paul Brown told the Jamaica Observer that receiving this scholarship is a life-changing experience for him due to his financial struggles that hindered his efforts but did not allow him to give up on his academic dream.

“I did not grow up with my mother nor my father in the picture; I grew up with my grandmother who wasn’t financially stable at any given time to push me through university, high school or even primary school but she did her best,” he said.

Brown, who is a recipient of $600,000 per annum scholarship to fund his tertiary education, will be studying networking and cybersecurity at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean.

He impressed interviewers with his story as told by programmes administrator of the NCB Foundation Jamilia Crooks-Brown who described his journey as “very special to us”.

Brown noted that there were moments when he had to miss school due to lack of resources but explained that this did not deter him but instead pushed him to work even harder in his academic pursuits.

“My journey did not start off good [but] even though at some points I missed classes, at some points I missed exams, I kept on going and I kept on working knowing that this was not going to be my end,” he said.

Brown said he wanted to encourage others in his community who are struggling to help them understand that their current circumstance does not define their final destination.

“Going forward into college this scholarship is not just a validation of academic achievement but more so one of personal growth and being a person who likes to impact those around me; this scholarship will help me to do more in my community, showing them that no matter where you come from, you are able to pursue whatever dream that you have, so this scholarship is my stepping stone to the next level,”he said.

Brown was among 16 students who received scholarships from the NCB Foundation on Wednesday during an award ceremony at the AC Hotel as the foundation celebrated the 16th year anniversary of its scholarship programme. To mark this achievement, the NCB Foundation budgeted more than $43 million this year, a 10 per cent increase from last year to cover funding for new scholarships, previous scholarship renewals and book grants for primary and secondary level students.

NCB Chairman Michael Lee-Chin encouraged the students to maximise their potential as he urged them to create their own formula towards success, while following the steps of their role models.

“Identify a role model, focus on someone who has achieved success, someone who is top of the class in the world and in the field that you are trying to achieve and get the recipe and figure out what’s the routine that person did to become so good,” he encouraged.

He added that students must understand the importance of taking responsibility for their actions in whatever field they go in, noting that the lack of accountability amongst many is a major cause for many issues affecting several countries.