The Holy Cross/Joe Issa Scholarship Foundation was recently launched to provide scholarships to needy primary, secondary and tertiary level students at three schools in Kingston and St. Ann.
The schools to benefit are Ocho Rios High in St. Ann and St. George’s College and the Holy Family Primary and Infant School in Kingston.
Scholarships valued at $10,000 are to be presented each year to selected students in the upper grades at Ocho Rios and Holy Family. Another scholarship is to go to an eligible student of St. George’s College, to allow him to pursue a four-year undergraduate degree programme at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States. Under the agreement established by the foundation, Holy Cross will meet the tuition cost of the student, amounting to some US$25,000 each year.
Chairman of the Holy Cross/Joe Issa Scholarship Fund, Barbara Evans, made the announcement recently at the SuperClubs hotel chain’s office in Ocho Rios. She said the Joe Issa Foundation would pay for room and boarding expenses for the students attending Holy Cross College.
Miss Evans said the scholarship recipients “will be required to return to St. George’s College and work for a period of two years”, on completion of the course of study.
Several fundraising events are being organized to raise funds for the scholarship programme to include a car raffle, car wash, celebrity walk-a-thon and cabaret extravaganza.
Director of SuperPlus Food Stores, Dr. Robert Chen, presented a cheque for $100,000 to the scholarship fund.
Vice-principal of the Ocho Rios High School, Rose Burrowes, and Principal of Holy Family, Cecile Palmer, thanked the foundation for the initiative to assist needy children at their schools.
Mrs. Palmer said children attending Holy Family were faced with “a lot of challenges”. The scholarship, she said, would encourage more students to overcome “the circumstances of their birth”.
Source: North Coast Times
