Jamaicans.Biz

A past student of St. Peter and Paul Preparatory, Alanna Duncan-Taylor emerged the island’s top-performing girl in last year’s 2009 GSAT Examinations thus earning her the Scotiabank’s Foundation scholarship for her performance.

The quiet, reserved 13-year-old student, who now attends Campion College, achieved the highest GSAT scores for Mathematics and Social Studies, at the same time scoring full marks for Composition.

A keen geography student who’s also a member of he school’s science club, Alanna says she chose to attend Campion because of the high academic standards associated with that institution.

Lorna James-Dobson, who is Alanna’s form and geography teacher at Campion, describes the quiet, oft-spoken student as a friendly, disciplined and extremely hard worker who is consistently a top performer.

“She always strives for excellence and always provides neat work. A few times, she’ll make careless mistakes, but don’t even think about that. She’s an ‘A’ student,” said James-Dobson.

This is clearly supported in Alanna’s results in the school’s end-of-term examinations last year, in which she scored straight A’s in at least six subjects.

Ava Campbell, Alanna’s former sixth-grade teacher at St. Peter and Paul, recalls her past student as being extremely focused when completing class assignments.

“When you give her the work, she starts right away and finishes very quickly, usually in a matter of minutes. She’s not going to get anything wrong as she’s always scoring perfect marks.”

Alanna reserves time each day during the week to study, as well as review class notes in preparation for school the next day. However, she usually takes a break from the books on weekends, particularly Saturdays, which are usually reserved for dance classes.

Although her parents assist with homework from time to time, Alanna is extremely independent when it comes to researching her assignments, which she does at the school library, as well as on the internet.

Veronica Duncan-Taylor, Alanna’s mother says her daughter, who is extremely creative with her hands, particularly in art and crochet, also possesses superb organizational skills.

“Usually, when I ask her what help I can give, she’ll look straight at me and say, ‘Mommy I’m fine. I know what to do.’ I am confident knowing that her success rests with her as well as her teachers.”

One of Alanna’s goals is to own and operate her own company someday, although right now she’s not sure exactly what type of business.

For students who are seeking the formula for success, Alanna advises that they keep focused as well as study hard so they can achieve great things.

On February 2, 2010, Jamaica lost one of its great sons. Professor The Honourable Rex Milton Nettleford – academic, author, orator, choreographer, dancer, cultural advocate and statesman – died at the George Washington Hospital in Washington, United States, just six days after he had collapsed in his hotel room in Washington and a day before his 77th birthday. At the time of his death, Professor Nettleford was being treated for catastrophic brain injury following a cardiac arrest that he had suffered on January 27, 2010. He was in the US capital to participate in a fund-raising gala for the University of the West Indies, where he was vice-chancellor emeritus.

Born in Falmouth, Trelawny, on February 3, 1933, Professor Nettleford climbed to the pinnacle of academic success and attainments in the arts. He was a devoted nationalist – one who understood that the sustainable growth and development of Jamaica depended on the nurturing of the nation’s people and on the attention paid to empowering them as individuals who could become full participants in the national effort.

A former Rhodes Scholar, Professor Nettleford saw education as one of the most potent empowerment tools, and he gave his active support to the lifelong process of learning. He had a passion for education, and strongly believed in community participation in identifying workable solutions to educational issues. He also provided unstinting support for trade unionism and workers rights; one of his most notable achievements was his founding of the Trade Union Education Institute, which provided the vehicle through which factory and farm workers could connect with scholars to help bridge the education gap between the classes.

Professor Nettleford was unfailingly loyal to exploring the dynamics of the unique Caribbean and Jamaican culture, and this led to him playing a part in the establishment of one of Jamaica’s treasures – the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), whose founding dovetailed with the attainment of Jamaica’s independence. Truly, his scholarly exploits and his nurturing and exportation of the best of Jamaica’s culture, made him well-deserving of the titles of leading Caribbean intellectual, visionary and cultural icon.

His conviction that the Jamaican spirit was as indomitable as the very Middle Passage that caused us to be here, drove him to extol that spirit in all areas of his endeavours. He was “bigging up” Jamaicans long before there was a popular phrase of such.

Professor Nettleford excelled in everything he undertook, and his death has undoubtedly left an irreparable void for Jamaicans and Caribbean nationals. May his soul rest in peace.