By Alicia Roache, Staff Reporter "AIM HIGH in life and if you even miss your target you will not fall too low." This is the guiding philosophy and advice of 16-year-old Courtney Foster to young Jamaicans.
Indeed Foster has been aiming high all her life and it seems, has never fallen short of her target. This student of Campion College has raised over $1.6 million in financial aid for medical students of the University of the West Indies. This year's target of $150,000 was met with the staging of the seventh annual Kids for Charity Fashion Show held at The Waterfalls, Liguanea, St. Andrew, on Sunday.
Foster has gained significant attention both locally and in the region for her humanitarian contributions, a trait with which she says she was born.
For seven years Foster has earned the support and recognition of her peers and the wider community. She was the recipient of the Gleaner Honour Award for 2001, Choices Magazine 'Young Achiever for 2002', in 2001 she won the National Child's Month Community Service Award for Kingston and was named by the Queen's Royal Jubilee as Outstanding Youngster in the Commonwealth, the only recipient in the Caribbean.
Yet Courtney insists that she pursues her charity work not out of any quest for popularity or personal gain, but out of a genuine desire to help, "to provide a light at the end of the tunnel," she says. Through her programme, Foster says many people have become informed about issues affecting Jamaicans, especially young people. In fact, one of her teachers, Dwayne Campbell, was on hand at the show to respond to the Ralph Thompson report of the poor performance of Jamaican students in the recent CXC examinations.
Foster, who herself has been successful in all eight CXC subjects, is an example of Campbell's maxim, "Success equals discipline plus motivation." She says that with all she has to do, she has to manage her time very well in order to be successful.
Courtney, in true form has high hopes for the future. She wants to study criminal law she says, "not to be an advocate for criminals, but an advocate for justice." Representational politics and magisterial duties are also on the agenda for this young philanthropist. If she falls short of any of these targets she will certainly not fall too low.
