Cedric Johnson, Gleaner Writer
DARLISTON, Westmoreland:
SUZETTE WHITTINGHAM-MAXWELL, a final-year student at the Norman Manley Law School, is the 2005-06 recipient of the M.N. Hamaty & Co memorial bursary. Her selection was from a field of three candidates at the scholarships and bursaries committee meeting at the law school, last month.
A resident of St. James, Mrs. Whittingham-Maxwell attended Albion All-Age School, Montego Bay High School, Montego Bay Community College and the University of the West Indies (UWI) - Mona and Cave Hill campuses. At the UWI, Mrs. Whittingham-Maxwell read for a bachelor of science degree in political theory and international relations, a bachelor of law degree and a master of science degree in comparative political theory, and is now completing legal studies at the Norman Manley Law School. She is a also tutor in the Department of Government, at the UWI, Mona.
She is a recipient of the STARR Foundation postgraduate award, the Ian Randle Publishers bursary. At Cave Hill, she was female sports personality, female Sherlockite, most outstanding football defender and sportswoman of the year 2004, while being a member of the Jamaica Association of Students. She is also a volunteer reader for the visually impaired at the UWI and focus group facilitator to inner-city communities.
Coming from a humble family background, Mrs. Whittingham-Maxwell, who grew up in the Norwood Heights community of St. James, is the only one of seven children born to Lloyd and Winnifred Whittingham to have achieved a high school education. The law student, who said she wants to be a prosecutor and eventually a judge, started her legal career as an assistant clerk of the courts at the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court.
FIFTH RECIPIENT
Mrs. Whittingham-Maxwell is the fifth recipient of this award, which was instituted by the Savanna-la-Mar-based law firm, M. N. Hamaty & Co, with a view to promote the good quality of jurisprudence in the region, and also to perpetuate the memory of the late Munair Hamaty, who founded the firm 67 years ago.
"We offer this bursary to the most deserving student from the county of Cornwall," said senior partner in the firm, Fred Hamaty, who stressed that the recipient must exhibit good leadership qualities, honesty, integrity and probity, in addition to demonstrating a willingness to be involved in community affairs.
At the committee meeting at the law school, Neil Hamaty, a partner in the law firm, and the donor's representative, made the selection. He said Mrs. Whitttingham-Maxwell was clearly the best candidate.
"For me, it is not just the giving of the bursary that motivates me, it is the sincerity and thoughtfulness of the act," she said, as she expressed gratitude for the award.
