Noranda Bauxite helps GSAT awardees to start high school
Published:Wednesday | August 17, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Carl Gilchrist, Gleaner Writer
Runaway Bay, St Ann:
NORANDA JAMAICA Bauxite Partners has come to the assistance of several St Ann students who were outstanding in their Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) earlier this year.
The 61 students, who begin high school next month, are drawn from 31 schools situated in the bauxite company's operational areas.
Each student was presented with a certificate of excellence at an award ceremony held at the Runaway Bay Heart Hotel, last Tuesday. The students were also granted a $25,000 bursary, which will be sent to the schools they will be attending come September.
Among the beneficiaries was St Ann's top GSAT achiever for 2011, Toni-Ann Brown of Servite Primary in Brown's Town, who will attend Westwood High School. Toni-Ann also received a laptop for being top student.
In addressing the ceremony, operations director at Noranda, Delroy Dell, said assisting in education is one of the best benefits the company could give to St Ann. Education, he said, was on top of the list of Noranda's outreach programmes.
He congratulated the students, their teachers and parents, and encouraged them to continue working hard to do well.
Be bold
Industrial relations and personnel manager at Noranda, Nathan Thompson, said it was important that companies like Noranda put their money where their mouth is.
Guest speaker, the Ministry of Education's chief education officer, Grace McLean, stressed the importance of education and encouraged the students to be bold.
"You can be anything you want to be once you're willing to take the risk; you have to be bold," McLean said. "Don't dream small, dream big; anything you can conceive you can achieve. I want to encourage you to start chasing your dreams."