Dr Patrick Allen and his wife Patricia, who both attended last week's breakfast meeting in Portland with students from Kingston, St Andrew, Portland and St Thomas. - File

PORT ANTONIO, Portland

Governor General Dr Patrick Allen's 'I Believe' campaign was fully embraced by students from the county of Surrey at a youth breakfast at Frenchman's Cove Hotel last Wednesday.

The breakfast meeting, with young people from Kingston, St Andrew, St Thomas and Portland, was part of the Governor General Achievement's Awards scheme, and was well supported.

Dr Allen stressed the need to believe in the youth and to provide them with training, in the hope that they would not betray the values of fairness, morality and justice. He praised them for their spirited ideas and solutions aimed at ridding the country of its fragile state and getting it back to economic recovery, amid the global economic crisis.

"I believe the future is bright for our youths," he told them. "We in Jamaica can believe in ourselves and in our ability. We can achieve what we have set out to achieve, and should not be restricted by the lack of finances," said the governor general. At the breakfast, students put forward proposals as to the way forward in restoring hope to the Jamaican economy and its people, as well as ways in which employment opportunities could be created.

Creating jobs

At the end of the open-discussion segment, moderated by Editor-in-Chief of The Gleaner, Garfield Grandison, the governor general said that he was particularly pleased with the response giving by Shantal Bailey of Titchfield High on the matter of what could be done to create jobs. Earlier, the student had mentioned that she and her peers had conceived of providing a tutoring service to those sitting the Grade Six Achievement Test, and also providing a baby-sitting service.

"The idea that she and her colleagues are willing to create jobs for themselves is a plus," emphasised Dr Allen. "This is a sign of creative genius. Jobs can be created; one does not have to sit around and wait."

Among the students, who received certificates as part of the Governor General Achievement Awards, were Ernest Chung of Excelsior Community College, who earned nine distinctions (Grade 1) in CXC and one credit (Grade 2); and Romain Strachan of Oberlin High, who had been labelled a troublemaker, but managed to secure six CXC passes and become the first member of his family to graduate from high school.

Among guests at the breakfast were Hugh R. Morris, national coordinator of the Governor General Achievement Awards; Roy Thompson, custos of Portland; Lauriston Lindsay, principal of Happy Grove High; and, Richard Williams, principal of Titchfield High.