NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024 31 CHERIQUE CAMPBELL never disconnected herself from community work – a quality which contributed to her being awarded a scholarship from the J Wray & Nephew (JWN) Foundation three years ago. Even now that she is based in Kingston, completing the third of a four-year bachelor’s degree programme in pharmacy at the University of Technology, Cherique continues to participate in community activities after her school work has been completed. She hails from Coco district, a community nestled between Appleton Estate and Maggotty in the sugar cane producing area of St Elizabeth. And while one would think that the high school closest to her home would have been her choice, not so. She opted to attend Manchester High School in the neighbouring parish, which took her out of bed at 4:30 a.m. every school morning to return at 6 p.m. Deep into accomplishing her mission of a degree in pharmacy, Cherique continues to balance her education with her philanthropy by volunteering her skills for JWN at Maggotty High School during the Christmas break and any other time when she finds more time to be able to do so. Although she received two education grants at Manchester High from the Cane Farmers Association, through her father’ membership, Cherique was not keen on hunting scholarships. A FINAL-YEAR teacher in training pursuing a bachelor’s in education degree at Shortwood Teachers’ College, Moses Mitchell is confident that he has chosen the right career path. His decision to major in Spanish and minor in French, he will tell you, underlines the importance of equipping himself with the skills to fill a much-needed gap in the education system while providing him with the skills to explore other cultures. Beaming as he conveys his gratitude for the JWN Foundation scholarship that he received at the start of the 2023 to 2024 academic year, which he says was “a blessing”, as it covered his tuition, Moses is now working on plans to demonstrate that the Foundation’s investment did not go in vain. A graduate of St Elizabeth Technical High School, Moses showed interest in Spanish from seventh grade and used the language to his advantage while playing on the institution’s Schools’ Challenge Quiz team from 2010 to 2014; the latter year as captain. “I decided to do a Spanish major, because I was pursuing the subject from first form in high school and I developed a love for it,” he said. “Seeing where the world is going now, if you want to be part of most organisation’s worldwide, you have to have a second language. And because of my love for languages, I decided to pursue a career in it,” said the man from Roses Valley, near Balaclava in St Elizabeth. He revealed that the final year of the education programme was challenging, what with him having to do three months of teaching practice at Camperdown High School, and having to balance his schoolwork with practising for the quiz team. The team was in the finals of the tertiary institutions’ competition. “Scholarships are always important, and I am grateful for the one I got from the JWN Foundation. It helped me a lot and took a financial burden off my shoulders, as it covered my tuition for the year. I am almost at the final hurdle, and it was all possible because of the scholarship,” he said. Moses also wants others to get involved in learning foreign languages, as according to him, “the world is changing day by day. I would recommend that everyone gets a second language, as it sets you apart from others,” Moses said. Moses Mitchell – A language expert ready for the world Moses Mitchell, JWN Foundation Scholar. CONTRIBUTED Cherique Campbell: An extraordinary student who values service JWN FOUNDATION Cherique Campbell, JWN Foundation Scholarship recipient CONTRIBUTED However, she now urges potential scholarship candidates to be bold and go for what they want: “When I was seeking the scholarship, it seemed that they were looking for extraordinary people, and I never considered myself as an extraordinary student. So the first couple of times I was applying I thought it was a waste of my time, because they were never going to choose me. I want to be an example to students that they need to just hold their heads down, put in the work, be consistent and do things to the best of your ability. A lot of my friends do not apply for scholarships because they think the same way as I was thinking. But you never know until you try,” she said. With a goal of opening her own pharmacy in 10 years, Cherique shared that at first she was never interested in medicine or nursing, but wanted to be involved in the medical field, based on her special love for chemistry. According to her, “Pharmacy combines my love for the sciences and my desire to be in the health profession. I also like the fact that I get to interact with people face to face, which makes the job a bit more worthwhile,” she ended. SCHOLARSHIPS TO GO FEATURE | THE GLEANER | THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024
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