作者： admin

KINGSTON, Jamaica — At a small ceremonial gathering held at Kingston’s AC Hotel, multi-hyphenate Jamaican leader Dr Patricia Smith — a successful home care entrepreneur, hotel operator, and published author — officially gifted a signed copy of her latest work *I Persist* to Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett. The event unfolded on the margins of a cross-sector convening that brought together top stakeholders from Jamaica’s tourism, education, and business industries, all gathered to exchange ideas around building greater resilience and driving innovation across the country’s key service sectors.

In her remarks during the presentation, Dr Smith outlined the core mission that drove her to write *I Persist*. The book was crafted as a source of encouragement for Jamaicans across all walks of life, she explained, with a special focus on uplifting women who grew up in state-run care institutions, as well as any person who has navigated the devastating challenges of homelessness and hopelessness. Its core message is simple: to urge readers to stay unshakable in the face of hardship, and to build every part of their lives around clear, intentional purpose.

Dr Smith went on to frame Minister Bartlett himself as a living example of the persistence her book celebrates. From leading Jamaica’s tourism sector through repeated global crises to advocating tirelessly for the country as a top-tier travel destination on the international stage, Bartlett’s decades-long career embodies the very spirit at the heart of *I Persist*, she said. Dr Smith shared that her hope is the book will strike a chord with every Jamaican who is dedicated to building a more robust, prosperous nation for all.

Minister Bartlett accepted the gift with gratitude, emphasizing that the values of resilience and endurance that *I Persist* explores lie at the center of Jamaica’s strategy for tourism recovery and long-term growth. He reflected on the repeated shocks the sector has absorbed over recent years: devastating hurricanes, the global COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing geopolitical instability that has reshaped international travel. Through every challenge, Bartlett noted, Jamaica’s tourism industry has persisted, adapted, and reimagined itself — and that ability to bounce back is the very reason the country remains one of the most sought-after Caribbean destinations for travelers worldwide. He thanked Dr Smith for the thoughtful gesture and for her contribution to the growing national conversation about what it means to lead with endurance.

Beyond its motivational message, *I Persist* digs into interconnected themes of personal resilience, overcoming systemic barriers that hold marginalized communities back, and the transformative power of leadership rooted in clear purpose.

In Kingston, Jamaica, a deliberate, sweeping educational renewal is taking root at St Andrew Preparatory School, driven by Principal Dr. Carol Blanchard’s vision of prioritizing whole-student development over narrow academic focus. Since Dr. Blanchard took the helm in July 2023, the institution has reimagined every layer of the student experience, from classroom curricula to extracurricular programming, and that progress recently earned a major vote of confidence: a JMD $500,000 donation to the school’s track and field program from local corporate partner Express Canteen Services, timed to support preparations for the upcoming annual Prep Champs athletic championships.

What sets St Andrew Prep’s current trajectory apart is its intentional focus on balancing strong academic outcomes with character building, social skill development, and athletic excellence. Dr. Blanchard, a veteran educator with a track record of turning around programs at other Jamaican preparatory schools, has centered her leadership on a simple but transformative idea: in an age where students can access any fact online for free, schools must shift their focus from delivering content to teaching information literacy, emotional intelligence, and practical life skills that prepare young people for long-term success.

This approach has already yielded measurable gains across every area of school life. In academic competition, the school advanced from only reaching the first round of the prestigious Junior Schools’ Challenge Quiz to breaking into the quarter-finals this year. A new robotics program, paired with the school’s longstanding chess initiative, has been a standout success: 42 out of 45 students entered in robotics competitions earned top marks this year, and Dr. Blanchard noted a clear, positive correlation between participation in STEM-focused extracurriculars and improved mathematics performance across the curriculum. Students have also excelled in the Kangaroo Mathematics challenge and the BIBRAS computational thinking competition, with several advancing to international rounds of the events.

Extracurricular success extends far beyond STEM. St Andrew Prep remains a dominant contender in preparatory school chess, gunning for its third consecutive championship title, while new student leadership and communication programs like Children’s Parliament and the impromptu speaking initiative Literary Voices have helped hundreds of students build public confidence and communication skills. On the athletic track, the program has been building momentum after a fifth-place finish at last year’s Prep Champs, with coach Patrick Johnson noting this year’s roster is deeper and stronger than ever.

The JMD $500,000 donation from Express Canteen could not have come at a better time, Dr. Blanchard explained, particularly as an independent school that receives no government funding and relies entirely on student tuition to cover operating costs. Shifting economic conditions across Jamaica have made corporate partnerships critical to expanding programs, retaining top teaching talent, and supporting high-cost extracurriculars like athletics that draw strong interest from families.

For Express Canteen’s leadership, the investment aligns perfectly with the company’s core philosophy of “Feed Your Dreams.” Co-owner Ryan Foster emphasized that the company’s support is about more than just financial assistance—it is a commitment to backing a model of education that prioritizes holistic growth. “What I admire about Dr. Blanchard’s work is how you are building a holistic environment for students to self-actualise, not just on the field of play, but also in the classroom,” Foster said. His wife and business partner Simone Foster added that the partnership has always centered on empowering young Jamaicans, noting that the donation is part of a long-term commitment to the school’s mission.

Track coach Patrick Johnson says the funding will allow the program to expand access to quality coaching for all interested students, rather than only focusing on elite contenders, as the team ramps up preparations for this year’s championships. While he remains cautiously optimistic, noting that competition results can be unpredictable, he confirmed this year’s team has already outperformed expectations in pre-championship development meets.

The transformation has already translated to growing community demand for places at the school: after turning away more than 30 Grade One applicants two years ago, the school was oversubscribed by more than 50 students for the 2024 intake. For Dr. Blanchard, that interest is validation of the holistic model, but the work is far from over. With the Prep Champs just around the corner, she says the school is ready to exceed expectations: “Look out for us. We might just be the champions this year.”

In ST MARY, Jamaica, a 31-year-old man who had been a fugitive for more than two weeks in the fatal investigation of his American girlfriend has turned himself in to local law enforcement, following coordinated intervention from his family that secured a peaceful handover on Friday, May 15. Dane Watson had evaded police custody since April 29, the day 42-year-old Melissa Sammoth, a resident of New York, was admitted to Cornwall Regional Hospital with multiple severe injuries. Medical staff later confirmed Sammoth’s death after efforts to treat her were unsuccessful. According to official police accounts, Watson personally transported Sammoth to the hospital’s emergency care facility before fleeing the scene immediately after dropping her off. Investigators had spent weeks tracing the suspect’s movements, working from the theory that he had left his original parish and was hiding out in the tight-knit Gayle community within St Mary. As pressure from the manhunt mounted, Watson grew concerned for his own personal safety and reached out to his family members to arrange a peaceful surrender. His relatives immediately contacted the Gayle division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force to open negotiations, and after careful coordination between family representatives and investigating officers, Watson was formally transferred into police custody without incident. The suspect remains behind bars as detectives continue working to piece together a full timeline of the events leading up to Sammoth’s death, including potential motives and the exact sequence of actions that left her with fatal injuries. Because of Sammoth’s status as an American citizen from New York, the high-profile case has attracted scrutiny from both domestic Jamaican audiences and international observers, with law enforcement prioritizing a thorough, transparent investigation to resolve all unanswered questions surrounding the incident.