AT just 18, Trainee Constable Juwain Alder is already armed with 13 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) subjects, a growing list of leadership credentials, and the weight of 160 fellow trainees looking to him for direction, a transformation he attributes to the discipline he cultivated at the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Cadet Academy.

A former student of St Catherine High School, Alder joined the academy on September 3, 2023 after a chance encounter with a police who introduced him to the programme.

What initially caught his attention was seeing cadets riding bicycles and hearing about their strong academic performance, but the experience would eventually give him a new sense of focus and direction.

At the time, Alder was already exposed to drills through the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force and was balancing school with football.

But, as he spoke to the Jamaica Observer last Tuesday, reflecting on his high school days, he recognised at the time that his priorities had to change.

“I wasn’t really focused where it was concerned on academics, and I realised that sometimes you have to make some sacrifices which will benefit you in the long run, and here I am now currently benefiting from that decision that I made,” he said.

That support, combined with the academy’s structured routine, helped Alder make a significant academic leap, eventually earning 11 CSEC and two CAPE subjects.

He credits this success to the level of individual attention he’s received.

“At the Cadet Academy, the number is not as large as a regular high school, so the teachers and the facilitators will have more time to focus on you and help you to grasp these lessons…Also, we usually have study sessions at 6:00 pm and we look forward to these study sessions because this is where we can get competitive with the learning experiences. So we come together, challenge each other, and get answers, and this helped us to prepare for our CSEC examinations,” he explained.

The programme has also helped him develop financially.

Students receive a stipend while attending the academy, with a portion automatically set aside as savings. Alder said that arrangement has allowed him to build savings and develop a degree of independence even before beginning his career.

“So I do also benefit from that saving from time to time, where I can come and get myself something and treat myself nice, and I can proudly say that I can live on my own as an 18-year-old due to the Cadet Academy,” he noted.

But his academic achievements are only part of the transformation.

Alder is now the number one class captain for his batch, placing him in charge of 160 trainees. That responsibility, he told the
Observer, has strengthened the leadership qualities he developed at the academy.

“So just imagine 160 persons looking to the youngest person for guidance. That alone shows how good a product the Cadet Academy can produce, what qualities it can produce, alongside the discipline, the leadership, [and] the ability to think critically,” he noted.

Those qualities are now shaping his experience as a trainee constable in the JCF.

Alder believes the influence of former cadets goes beyond their own performance. He said their conduct can also inspire other trainees to aspire to similar standards.

Furthermore, he noted that the experience has given him something he believes young men need as they prepare for adulthood: a clear sense of direction and the tools to begin standing on their own.

The JCF’s Cadet Academy was established in September 2021 as a boarding programme designed to provide young men with a structured environment that combines academic education with drill, discipline, leadership development, and mentorship.

The academy’s smaller classes allow teachers and facilitators to give students more individual attention.

Although the programme provides a pathway into the JCF, becoming a police officer is not automatic. Students who choose that route must still meet the required standards and go through the force’s recruitment process.

For Alder, however, the academy’s impact is not measured only by the number of cadets who eventually join the force; he said its value is also recognised by police already serving, including senior personnel who have told him they wish they could return and experience the programme themselves.

“I have heard it over and over from a lot of police officers or even senior officers, saying that if they could restart their life and come and join the Cadet Academy, they would. That’s to say, if you are a senior superintendent and you are saying that you would like to restart your life to be in the academy, then it must be something great,” he said.

Now a trainee constable, Alder wants other young men to consider the opportunity that, he believes, changed his trajectory.

“I believe that every young man should come and try out for the Cadet Academy, and hopefully they get inside, because it is a good programme. It is the best youth programme I have ever seen,” he said.