By Rayon Dyer, Gleaner WriterBLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth:
ALUMINA PARTNERS of Jamaica Limited (Alpart) awarded five students with scholarships at the company's annual parish luncheon held at the Alpart Sports Club in Nain St. Elizabeth last Thursday.
The students honoured for their academic achievements are Tanisha Parchment of the University of the West Indies, Andrea Legg of the University of Technology, Kenisha Cooper of Northern Caribbean University, Carlene Mattis of CASE and Weynika Dent-Evans of GC Foster College.
Addressing the gathering which consisted of school principals, bank managers, resident magistrates and journalists among others, operations director of Alpart Steve Howard, said that this year was a very rough one for the company, citing the impact of hurricanes Charlie and Ivan as one of the major negatives the company experienced throughout 2004.
HURRICANES IVAN AND CHARLIE
"Severely impacted by hurricanes Ivan and Charlie with damages to our railroad in August and the port in September, Alpart employees were able to bounce back with structural recovery achieved at both locations in a reasonable time, Mr. Howard said.
Robert McKay, administrative director of the company explained that Alpart's investment in education is important to the company and the community, while at the same time assisting many needy students to achieving their educational potential.
"The scholarships offered were fully endorsed by our general manager Darrel Harriman, and they will be granted on an annual basis for an initial period of ten years leading up to a first degree valued at $100,000 per annum for three years (university) and $60,000 per annum each at CASE (College of Agriculture, Arts and Science) and GC Foster (College) for two years", Mr. McKay said.
