We are incredibly proud of all our scholarship students. However, we want to publicly congratulate those students who achieved the very highest grade point averages for the 2010-11 school year.

In order of their averages, they are:

• Anath Genus – She achieved an 88.6 average from Hampton and will be receiving a full scholarship for grade 9.

• Kemelia Lyons – She received an 88.2 from STETHS and will be on a full scholarship as she enters grade 10.

• Shakiera Smith – Shakiera got an 87.4 average at Hampton and will receive a full scholarship for grade 9.

• Samantha Dicker – She received an 81.5 average at Hampton and has been awarded a full scholarship for grade 11. (Samantha is on a Stuart Duggan scholarship, administered by Treasure Beach Foundation.)

• Cydonie Charlton – Cydonie received an 81.2 average from Hampton and will be entering grade 9 on a full scholarship.

Please understand each our of our scholarship students is encouraged to do more than achieve outstanding grades. For instance, each of them must serve as an academic mentor to another student who does not live in their home; passing on the tradition of education requires several hours a week of their time.

Congratulations students, i am so proud of your achievements, continue the good work, Mrs Kennedy you are exceptional, congratulatins. However, i must mention, there were several students who received full scholarship and i am not seeing their names here, i hope these students are not getting too relaxed, at ease, and have lost their focus.I encourage you students to get back your focus where it belong, be dedicated and disciplined, you can do it , you did it bfore.

Mrs Kennedy, with the exception of this year(students who receive scholarship this year) how many students have receive scholarship since the preogramme has started.

We have awarded scholarships to a total of 30 students; four of them are from this year--which means 26 were awarded prior to this year.

Some of the recipients are now getting ready to start their sixth year on Treasure Beach Foundation scholarships.

The amount of the scholarship given after the first year depends entirely on the student. The better they do, the more they get. They can have a one-half scholarship one year, a full scholarship the next year, and a three-quarter scholarship the year after that.

Many students have trouble adjusting to high school, so sometimes we don't see great performance in grade 7. They have to travel a long way each day, and they take numerous subjects. Also, they are no longer in a class with many other students (and the principal and teachers) they have known almost all their lives.

As students move to higher grades, the work gets more and more difficult. When you see a student at grade 9 and above getting an 80 average or higher, you know that young person is working exceptionally hard. It usually also means that student is being raised in a household where the the importance of education is understood.

CONGRATULATIONS! GLAD TO SEE YOU ARE STILL ON THE RIGHT TRACK, ALL THE BEST IN YOUR FUTURE ENDEVOURS.

CONGRATULATIONS! GLAD TO SEE YOU ARE STILL ON THE RIGHT TRACK, ALL THE BEST IN YOUR FUTURE ENDEVOURS.

Congratulations to these young ladies for excelling.

Congrats to the young ladies.

A sad fact that keep jumping out at me in various degrees is that girls are doing better that boys.

What are we doing to help out young men?

Walk on any co-ed college campus and ratio is like 70:30.

I would suggest the young men get down to business and be more serious about their studies. Woman in general have been more oppressed through the ages and they are realizing becoming educated instead of having babies when they are young teenagers is the path they should follow to be able to realize their dreams.

Agreed lot more girls have won these scholarships. Agreed universities keep enrolling more women. Why do people think WE need to do more for our young men. Why are they not expected to do more for themselves?

Have there been changes over the years in Treasure Beach with respect to male vs. females when it comes to education?

hhmmmm..... very interesting thoughts.

this could be part of the problem.

Mrs. Kennedy, you have been a part of the community for more than 25 years. Do you have any observations on how education has changed. What about the differences between the boys and the girls.

"Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price."

said by Vince Lombardi

The students who receive scholarshp has to mentor another child not living in their home, i am sure the child they are mentoring is looking forward to reach where they have reached, likewise it would be good if these scholarship recepients had some university students to mentor them, they would certainly have a future to look forward to. Sometimes all the child needs is a little encouragement, they might not be getting it in their home.

To Concern:

We know children need as much encouragement as possible, even if they are receiving it in their homes.

Because of this, we have coordinated visits to Treasure Beach for 142 university students over the past seven years. Most have worked with the students at Sandy Bank Primary School. We do our best to have university students of different economic backgrounds, of different religions, from different countries, and of different races visit exactly for the reason you state. It is important for children in Treasure Beach to realize no matter how humble a background they have, almost anything is possible if they set their mind to it.

Many of the university students maintain relationships with the Treasure Beach students long after they have returned home, giving them further encouragement.

Here are the main changes I have noticed about education in Treasure Beach; please understand these are my personal observations, so I cannot promise you they are totally accurate.

• A higher percentage of children attend school, and they attend on a more regular basis.

• Children are more interested in a much wider variety of jobs; for instance, very few boys now say “fisherman” when asked what they want to be when they become an adult.

• Fewer girls are having babies at very young ages, so more of them are going on to high school.

• It seemed that sons were automatically favored over daughters when it came to who got the money for school; I don’t see this happening nearly as much.

• The students tend to be less respectful toward their teachers; this is particularly true of the boys.

The childrens is behaving lmore rowdy and its hard for the teachers to deal with.

Is it true the children are less disciplined in school? They seem quite sweet when I pass them on the road.

It was great to see that someone who is the position to make a significant change realizes the disparity in education between boys and girls.



Taken from a Q & A session with the Prime Ministers wife.

"Q: Do you have plans to get involved in charity work? If so, what?

A: I have always contributed quietly to certain charities, but now I will be taking a lead role. My plans are well advanced to launch a foundation that addresses the challenges of at-risk youth — the challenge of raising resilient, successful and resourceful boys who become strong, responsible and admirable men. The name of my charity is Save Our Boys Foundation. As the mother of two boys, I am naturally attuned to the issues facing our boys/young men in Jamaica today. Research shows that an achievement gap exists as boys underperform academically compared to their female counterparts. This gap is exacerbated by the time these young men are college-ready with less than one-third of them entering college with their female cohort. This systemic marginalisation and the lack of role models and role model relationships lead to a dismal reality where our boys are more likely to fail in schools, enter gangs, and exhibit dysfunctional and disruptive anti-social behaviours. However, it is not enough to sit on the sidelines as a passive or concerned observer of these maladies. The foundation will develop and implement a comprehensive, multi-faceted intervention programme targeting ‘at-risk’ young Jamaican men between the ages of six and 12. The programme will be innovative and sustainable, including key components such as education, spirituality, community service, volunteerism, character development, grooming and deportment, national and civic pride, opportunities for leadership, mentorship, apprenticeship, and 21st century learning skills."

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/The-PM-s-wife#ixzz1dbkuzTM5

"We are no longer the nation of parents we used to be, where everyone parented all children," she said.

"I would love to focus on boys because I am seeing a major decline in our young men," she added


read more here : http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111113/news/news1.html