-Norman Grindley
At left, Melecia Miller, Morant Bay High School student, is on her way to the Ivy League Smith College in Massachusetts, come September. At right, Dr. Dennis Minott, Aquest programme co-ordinator with three of his scholarship winners: Robert Stewart of Cornwall College, Abigail Hamilton of Titcthfield High (second left) and Rhonde-Gaye McPherson of St. Andrew High.
Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer
MELECIA MILLER is a 16-year-old millionaire. At least, she has won $10.3 million worth of scholarships to attend the Ivy League institution, Smith College, in North Hampton, Massachusetts in the United States, which offer she will take up in September of this year.
Miller, a student of Morant Bay High School, is just one of over 1,00l students belonging to Aquest the Association of Quietly Excellent Scholars and Thinkers, created by educator Dr. Dennis Minott (a member of the Government-commissioned Task Force on Education), and which has facilitated well over 100 Jamaican students in their bid to complete tertiary training at the world's best colleges and universities in 2004 alone.
More than 3,000 gifted students have been placed in the US/Japanese/ Canadian/Cuban universities and colleges through this programme. The Ivy League (top 300) colleges of these countries have experienced a significant injection of Jamaican talent through this programme.
In the past seven years, there have been eight Rhodes scholars and seven have been Aquest members. Of the 17 top colleges and universities in the world (Princeton Review data), there are currently 123 Jamaicans in attendance. Eighty-three per cent of them are from Aquest.
Principal of Ardenne High school in Kingston, Mrs. Esther Tyson, also formerly of St. Andrew High, told Outlook "There is one other organisation doing the kind of work that Aquest is doing now, but Aquest was the first group to target students at the tertiary level and encourage them to excel at SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and also to package themselves to be suitable candidates at this level."
Daughter of Mrs. Tyson, Mikaela Tyson is also a product of Aquest. She recently completed a first degree in International Public Policy and Government at the Woodrow Wilson School in Princeton University. She was only the second Jamaican to be accepted to this programme after David Panton.
Mikaela is about to embark on a one-year internship programme at Princeton before going on to her graduate degree.
Melecia Miller of Morant Bay High School was a member of her school's Challenge Quiz Team, when she was encouraged to become a part of Aquest by another member. It was a decision that both herself and her parents taxi driver and farmer Donavon Smith and housekeeper Veronica Smith were to congratulate themselves on making.
She started Aquest classes in September 2003 and completed her SAT in November of the same year. Even though her time was so short, she said that she believed that she would get the financial assistance she had applied for, because she had 'prayed'.
The school she chose, Smith College, had to have a strong science programme because her aim is to become a dermatologist. In April of this year she received news that she was the recipient of a Wallace H. Coutter scholarship which would provide her with full tuition, room and board, plus other expenses at Smith.
Rhonde-Gaye McPherson, an 18-year-old student of St. Andrew High School for Girls has also secured financial aid to the tune of US$40,000. She will be attending Wesley University in Connecticut.
"I was at home when I received the email. It was the most wonderful email in my life," the very self-confident Rhonde-Gaye said enthusiastically.
Overjoyed
Her mother, Triff Snape, a financial analyst at the Ministry of Finance and Planning, is also overjoyed. The single mother feels that all her years of struggle have been rewarded.
Rhonde-Gaye is not absolutely sure her career path will be, but feels sure that the liberal programme at Wesley will lead her in the right direction.
In Montego Bay, Cornwall College graduate, 19-year-old Robert Stewart, has been awarded US$36,000 of financial aid to attend the four-year engineering programme at Swathmore and Haverford College in Pennsylvania.
Abigail Hamilton of Titchfield High in Portland, who will be doing premed at Mt. Holyoke in Massachusetts, received full financing for the programme which will lead to a career in medicine.
Hamilton, who was head girl of Titchfield High School, public relations officer of the Interact Club, a member of the Red Cross Club, the newspaper club, the School's Challenge Team and a peer counsellor, was also offered a summer internship at the prestigious Johns Hopkins programme which she did not take up. Come September, she will be off to school, however, with financial aid which is valued in Jamaican dollars at $8.8 million.
According to Dr Minott, the students were not judged on their SAT results alone, but on multiplicity of requirements which are laid down by scholarship committees and all institutions which give financial aid.
Among these factors are the students rank in class, the school record, application essays, school reports, teacher recommendations, extra-curricular and sport activities and financial aid request made.
Results
The application process can be a very strenuous one, but as you can see, the results are very gratifying for those who are successful.
Scholarships and financial aid can be withdrawn for failure to meet deadlines and lying on financial aid statements, as well as a lack of consistency between SAT data and school (high school) data.
Performance, therefore, must be consistent and not just a 'flash in the pan'.
Not all students receive 100 per cent financial assistance, as in the case of Robert Stewart who will have to find US$5,000 in fees as his contribution. His mother, who is a secretary, was overjoyed at his acceptance, but is worried, Robert said, about this immediate obligation.
Minott comments that Stewart will be in august company at Swathmore, as Jamaican Professor Neil Watson who is currently professor of business at the Wharton school at Harvard is a graduate of the institution in Pennsylvania.
For the young students, the journey has just begun.
