Darryl Strachan (left) greets Alesha Coleman prior the start of the Airports Authority of Jamaica Scholarship Awards Luncheon held at the Terra Nova Hotel yesterday. Both were awarded Tertiary Scholarships under the Airports Authority Scholarship Programme for Children of Employees for 2002. - Michael Sloley /Freelance Photographer FOURTEEN SCHOLARSHIPS, two bursaries and four book grants, valued at $1.82 million have been awarded to children of employees of the Airport Authority of Jamaica(AAJ) under the AAJ's Scholarship Programme for Employees Children for the 2002 academic year.
The awards were made yesterday at the ninth annual scholarship awards function of the AAJ, at the Terra Nova Hotel on Waterloo Road, St Andrew.
The two tertiary scholarships are valued at $85,000 each per annum for four years, the two tertiary bursaries at $20,000 each for a one-year period and the twelve secondary scholarships at $18,000 per annum for five years in addition to the four book grants which are valued at $6,000 each for a one-year period.
The overall cost of the scholarship programme for the period 1993, when the programme began, to 2001 adds up to a total of $6.4 million, chairman of the function and training manager of the AAJ, Mrs Elaine Ferguson, told the awardees and their parents..
Applicants for the tertiary awards were required to go through an interview by a committee which selects the awardees. Tertiary scholarships are awarded to employees' children who have been accepted to pursue full-time undergraduate degree programmes at any of the three universities in the island. This scholarship is awarded for a maximum of four years.
Between 1993 and 1995 only one tertiary scholarship was awarded annually, but since 1996 two have been awarded. In addition, the training manager explained that, a number of special awards and bursaries have also been made since the inception of the programme.
Book grants she said were also awarded to students attending secondary schools or tertiary institutions, who did not qualify for the secondary or tertiary scholarships. These, Mrs. Ferguson noted, are given for one year only and are intended to assist with the purchase of textbooks.This year, tertiary scholarships have been awarded to Alesha Coleman who have been accepted to pursue a degree in Medical Technology at the University of Technology and Darrell Strachan who will be pursuing a BSc in Computer Science at the University of the West Indies.
Awardees of the secondary scholarships are: Careece Anderson, Davetta Anderson, Vanessa Bryan, Danielle Buchanan, Mario Campbell, Jehanne Clough, Stephen Dalrymple, Camiella Davis, Semone Dunchie, Mikhail Fearon, Daniel Grant and Brandon Hamilton.
