Page 6 VANESSA ABRAHAMS-JOHN: Trailblazer in human resource management. Vanessa currently serves as Senior Vice President at Adidas where she oversees human resources across North America (U.S. and Canada). Using her qualification and experience as an attorneyat-law, Vanessa has practised in the area of human resource management and is Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team leader in the Adidas Company. She has received numerous awards for DEI leadership, and is named among the Top 25 Influential Black Women in Business by the US Network Journal as well as among Top Executives in Corporate Diversity by Black Enterprise magazine. SIMONE FISHER SOBERS: Trailblazer as Founder and President of the non-profit organisation Winsome Wishes for Kids (WWKIDS) based in New York. WWKIDS helps children with learning challenges and/or learning disabilities and works with teachers and parents to help them develop their full potential. Simone gained access to the UNESCO award winning literacy App Graphogame that has been distributed free of cost in Jamaica. WWKIDS was honoured as one of Jamaica’s first ever Literacy Heroes by The Book Industry Association of Jamaica in 2023. These heroes were selected for the impact of their projects and their alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. CONSTANCE PEARL MORGAN: Trailblazer in education (posthumous). Pearl was awarded a special Jamaica Scholarship in 1941 after her exceptional school career, and she studied in Canada and Britain before returning to Jamaica in 1951, where she taught at Westwood High School, then Excelsior High School. She spent the remaining 33 years of her active teaching life at Excelsior as History Department Head and Vice Principal. She was valued as a repository of knowledge, a disciplinarian, a mentor, and guide. A Jamaica Global 2019 publication noted that she influenced “the hearts and minds of generations of students who came under her guidance”. Pearl Morgan died in 2024 soon after celebrating her 100th birthday. SUZANNE WILLIAMS: Trailblazer in Education. Suzanne is the founder of Liberty Academy at the Priory, Jamaica, an independent institution that started in 1994 to initiate “mainstreaming” i.e. accommodate both special needs and highly functional children. Both groups are taught together and all are encouraged to reach their full potential. Suzanne was recently given the Excellence in Special Education award by the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities during the organisation’s Inaugural Disability Awards Gala. Suzanne was also one of the recipients of the Prime Minister’s 2025 Medal of Appreciation for service to Education. DR. JOYCE GLASGOW, CD: Trailblazer in science and environmental education (posthumous). Joyce taught science subjects at York Castle High, Westwood High and St Andrew High schools before attaining a doctorate in science education, after which she was appointed Senior Lecturer in Science Education at the University of the West Indies. With a special interest in environmental education (EE) she pioneered its development across the Caribbean. She was instrumental in developing the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Biology syllabus and became the first appointee as Chief Examiner in that subject. She co-authored a biology text, highly regarded by teachers and students in the Caribbean and several African countries. Joyce died in 2025. PROFESSOR ELIZABETH (BETH) HARRY: Trailblazer in Special Education. Beth is Professor Emerita of Special Education at the University of Miami. Her academic publications include 10 books and over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and her awards include Distinguished Researcher award from the Council for Exceptional Children, and an honorary doctorate from Lesley University in Boston. She taught for many years in Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, where, in memory of her daughter Melanie, who had cerebral palsy, she founded the Immortelle Centre for Special Needs in Port of Spain. Beth has memorialised Melanie’s life in the book, Melanie, bird with a broken wing: A mother’s story (2010).
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