Grace Co-operative Credit Union Education Grant Awards Ceremony 2023

FOUR HUNDRED and thirty-five thousand dollars was awarded to 13 scholars who performed well in the PEP, CSEC, and CAPE examinations. To attain an award, the recipients were expected to maintain a high GPA during the academic year 2022-2023. Besides academic performance, the credit union evaluated the recipients based on participation in extracurricular activities, conduct, attitude, punctuality, and attendance. The awardees were honoured at the Annual Education Grant Awards Ceremony on September 19 in the multifunction room at 73 Harbour Street, Kingston.

Dr Curtis Sweeney, counselling psychologist at the Grace & Staff Foundation, was the guest speaker at the event. He cautioned the awardees to be careful of mainstream ideologies about education and encouraged them to embrace the concept of being “fully bright, fully focused”.

Dr Sweeney gave the students and parents five principles to success in education: “positive mindset, purpose, planning, persistence and parenting”.

Samuel Shelton, president of the credit union, congratulated the awardees and their parents on their outstanding performance and expressed Grace Co-operative Credit Union’s commitment to helping members achieve their financial goals.

Katrina Grant-D’Aguilar, marketing and communication manager at the JCCUL Group, gave greetings from the Credit Unions of Jamaica. She mentioned that in keeping with the fifth co-operative principle of “education, training and information”, the 25 credit unions in the movement have invested heavily in providing financial support towards education. To date, the Credit Unions of Jamaica have collectively awarded over $20 million in bursaries and scholarships islandwide.

Makeda Scott, general manager at Grace Co-operative Credit Union, encouraged parents to educate their children about financial literacy before they enter the working world. She also advised parents to give their children a head start by opening an account with Grace Co-operative Credit Union.