Cornwall College old boy Aldrick “Allie” McNab has called for more recognition to be given to Montego Bay residents who have made significant contributions to various sectors in the resort city.

Delivering the keynote address at the Cornwall College class of 1979 distinguished members awards in Montego Bay on Sunday, McNab, who was an outstanding sportsman, argued that because Montegonians “had to dig deep and work hard to achieve against the odds”, that has given rise for an awards function to be held in the city to honour its own.

“We have been called a republic. Why have we not embraced the mantle of the republic? Why don’t we have an awards function in the honour of a great man like Tony Hart for business, the [Mark] Kerr Jarrett award for entrepreneurship, the Dr Marco Brown award for medicine, the Steve Bucknor award for sports, the Lloyd B Smith award for journalism, the Fred Smith award for transportation and the Godfrey Dyer award for tourism?” questioned the outstanding Montegonian.

“When are we going to have a walk of fame? When are we going to have our own statue park? When are we going to honour our own people here? Are we going to wait on Kingston to do that? We have to take our own fate in our hands. We have to carve out our place in history.”

He pledged to donate $500,000 towards assisting students participating in sporting disciplines at his Montego Bay-based alma mater, which was founded in 1896.

“I want to donate $250,000 aligned to football, and another $250,000 aligned to track and field but it doesn’t have to be that. I trust you guys to put that money to good use in helping somebody,” he announced.

Meanwhile, class of 1979 members Wilfred Smith and Michael Samuels pledged to donate $150,000 and $100,000, respectively, while Peter Lee from the class of 1977 chipped in with $25,000.

The Cornwall College Alumni 79ers has committed to pay the fees for the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) subjects not subsidised by the Government for 50 students at their alma mater who will be sitting the exams in the next academic year, up from the 40 students who recently benefitted from a similar gesture.

The Ministry of Education provides a subsidy for students to sit four CSEC subjects. These are mathematics, English, one science subject, information technology or electronic document preparation and management (EDPM).

Students on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), once they have qualifying scores, get up to eight CSEC subjects covered.

During Sunday’s distinguished members awards, Charles Ramdatt, Vincent McNiesh, Ealan Powell, Fitzroy Vidal, and Fred Bailey were awarded for distinguished service in their respective fields of endeavour.

Powell, a former assistant commissioner of police, in expressing his gratitude to be among those awarded, highlighted the need for providing mentorship for students at Cornwall College.

“We need to assist the boys now more than ever. It is good to donate these funds but we need to go further. We need to establish a mentorship programme for the boys,” Powell stressed.