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  • Israel strikes south Lebanon day after ceasefire extension

    Israel strikes south Lebanon day after ceasefire extension

    BEIRUT, LEBANON – Just one day after Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a fragile six-week-old ceasefire for another 45 days, the Israeli military launched a sweeping wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Saturday, deepening despair among tens of thousands of already displaced Lebanese residents and casting severe doubt over the future of the truce.

    Israeli officials confirmed the strikes were targeting positions held by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Ahead of the bombardment, Israeli authorities issued an evacuation order covering nine southern Lebanese villages, triggering a new wave of civilian flight. Lebanon’s state-owned National News Agency documented strikes hitting more than 24 villages across the region, with one strike landing more than 31 miles from the Israeli-Lebanese border. Local media reported that hundreds of additional residents have fled north, seeking safety in the coastal city of Sidon and the capital Beirut.

    The ceasefire, which originally took effect on April 17, has been rattled by near-constant violations from both sides since its implementation. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement Saturday welcoming the truce extension, calling on all involved parties to honor the cessation of hostilities in full. But the agreement has done little to halt active clashes: Israel has maintained consistent strike operations inside Lebanese territory and continues to hold territory along the shared border, while Hezbollah has launched regular retaliatory attacks targeting northern Israel and Israeli military positions inside southern Lebanon – including multiple claimed assaults on Saturday.

    According to data from Lebanese authorities, more than 2,900 people have been killed in Lebanon in Israeli attacks since cross-border hostilities erupted in March. More than 400 of those deaths have occurred since the original April ceasefire went into force. For its part, Israel has confirmed 19 of its soldiers have been killed in confrontations with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

    Saturday’s strikes follow indirect negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese envoys in Washington, the latest round of talks following the first direct discussions between the two nations – which have never maintained formal diplomatic relations – in decades earlier last month. Those talks produced the agreement to extend the ceasefire, but the deal has split Lebanese political and armed factions.

    Hezbollah has rejected the US-facilitated negotiations, and issued a statement Saturday condemning the proposed security framework as a new series of unauthorized concessions made by the Lebanese government to Israel. “Many Lebanese see the extension of the ceasefire through this track as an extension of their ongoing killing and a cover for the aggression on them and their homeland,” the group’s statement read. In justifying its Saturday attack on Israeli troops in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, Hezbollah said the action was a response to repeated Israeli ceasefire violations and attacks on southern Lebanese villages.

    For the tens of thousands of Lebanese displaced from the south by months of fighting, the gap between the announced truce extension and ongoing deadly attacks has eroded any remaining faith in the agreement. “This is not a truce as long as Israeli attacks continue against the south and its people, with deaths, injuries and destruction,” said Ali Salameh, 60, a displaced resident sheltering in a Beirut school since the war began. Many other displaced residents echoed this frustration, saying they backed Hezbollah’s continued resistance to Israeli attacks. “What kind of a truce is this when they have just threatened villages and people are being displaced? Where is the state? We stand only with the resistance,” said Nawal Mezhir, another displaced southerner.

    Lebanon’s Washington-based negotiating delegation struck a more optimistic tone in its statement Friday, welcoming the truce extension and the new US-facilitated security track. The delegation said the agreement “provides critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability.”

    The current round of cross-border hostilities began on March 2, when Hezbollah launched a large rocket barrage against Israel in retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian commander. Even before Saturday’s large-scale strikes, violence had continued through the ceasefire period: on Friday, a day before the extension was finalized, Israeli jets struck the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre, near the city’s famous ancient ruins. An AFP correspondent on the ground documented extensive destruction to the targeted neighborhood. Ibrahim Kahwaji, a tailor who suffered a leg wound in the strike, described the campaign as a deliberate effort to force civilians out of southern Lebanon. “They are emptying the south of its population… It’s a real occupation. We want a solution,” Kahwaji said.

  • Westmoreland health authorities heighten hantavirus surveillance

    Westmoreland health authorities heighten hantavirus surveillance

    In Montego Bay, Jamaica, public health officials in the parish of Westmoreland have activated enhanced monitoring protocols for hantavirus, responding to growing concern across the Caribbean region even as the island nation has yet to document a single verified infection of the disease.

    The announcement was made Thursday by Dr. Marcia Graham, Westmoreland’s top Medical Officer of Health, during a regular monthly sitting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation held in Savanna-la-Mar. In her address to local government leaders, Graham detailed that surveillance efforts have been specifically strengthened at all of Jamaica’s points of entry, including airports and seaports, to block any potential introduction of the virus through cross-border travel.

    Graham explained that hantavirus has an unusually wide incubation window, stretching from one week to as long as eight weeks after initial exposure. Because of this extended latent period, any person identified as a potential contact of a confirmed case would be placed under close medical observation and quarantined for a minimum of six weeks to prevent further spread. Despite these proactive measures, Graham emphasized that Jamaica currently has no active suspected or confirmed hantavirus cases being monitored by health authorities.

    Beyond surveillance, the medical officer issued a public warning about rampant misinformation surrounding the virus circulating on social media platforms. Fake public health alerts, fraudulently using the official logo of Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness, have been shared widely across local social networks in recent days. Graham urged all Jamaican residents to cross-check any health-related information only through trusted, official sources, naming the national Ministry of Health and Wellness, the World Health Organization, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the most reliable outlets for updates.

    In addition to the hantavirus update, Graham used the opportunity to reinforce ongoing public health initiatives for the parish. She repeated longstanding calls for community members to step up efforts to eliminate mosquito breeding sites and control rodent populations, two key environmental factors that contribute to the spread of multiple infectious diseases. She also voiced urgent concern over a persistent troubling trend: a high number of childhood accidental poisoning cases in Westmoreland.

    “We’re still seeing too many children admitted to the hospital with accidental poisoning,” Graham stated, issuing a direct appeal to parents and caregivers across the parish. She stressed that all hazardous household chemicals, toxic cleaning products, and other dangerous substances must be stored in locked, secure locations that are completely out of the reach of young children to prevent preventable emergency hospitalizations.

  • Jamaica completes draft 10-year National Agricultural Development Plan with FAO, says Green

    Jamaica completes draft 10-year National Agricultural Development Plan with FAO, says Green

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a key step forward for the Caribbean nation’s food systems and agricultural growth, the Jamaican government, in partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has finalized drafting of an ambitious 10-year National Agricultural Development Plan. The landmark announcement was made on May 13 by Floyd Green, Jamaica’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, during his address to the Sectoral Debate in the country’s House of Representatives. The new framework centers on four core priority areas: building resilient, sustainable and efficient production systems; nurturing competitive and innovation-driven agri-businesses and value chains; streamlining efficient cross-border agricultural trade; and strengthening national food security and public nutrition. Beyond these four primary pillars, the plan also integrates a set of critical cross-cutting priorities that address systemic gaps in the sector: agricultural research, innovation and technological adoption, expansion of skilled agricultural workforce development, targeted support for youth and gender inclusion in the sector, and targeted measures to curb long-standing issues of praedial larceny. To ensure the plan reflects the needs and perspectives of all groups involved in Jamaica’s agricultural sector, Green announced that the draft will be released publicly to collect feedback and input ahead of final approval. The document has already been distributed to all sitting parliamentarians, and a full public version is now available for download on the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, hosted at www.moa.gov.jm. Green emphasized that the government is committed to inclusive policymaking, noting that every agricultural stakeholder — from small-scale independent farmers to large agribusiness operators, industry associations, and civil society groups — will have the opportunity to contribute their insights before the plan is finalized. Members of the public and stakeholders can submit written comments and suggestions via a dedicated email address, nadp@moa.gov.jm. Looking ahead to the finalization process, a formal validation workshop bringing together key critical stakeholders has been scheduled for May 21, 2026, where participants will deliver targeted input to refine the draft into its final, actionable form. Green described the long-term plan as a vital strategic document that will shape the future of Jamaica’s agricultural sector for the next decade, aligning growth goals with sustainability, equity, and national food security objectives.

  • ‘Bunny’ on the double as City beat West Ham to cap WSL title-winning campaign

    ‘Bunny’ on the double as City beat West Ham to cap WSL title-winning campaign

    On a thrilling Saturday afternoon at the Academy Stadium, Manchester City secured the 2023-24 Women’s Super League championship in dominant fashion, defeating a resilient West Ham United side 4-1 to cap off an exceptional campaign. The match delivered the kind of dramatic, high-stakes entertainment that has become a hallmark of the modern WSL, with individual milestones and collective glory combining to create a historic day for the Manchester club. The opening breakthrough came 13 minutes into the contest, when Canadian defender Jade Rose netted her first ever goal in the WSL. West Ham’s defensive line failed to clear a dangerous left-sided corner, leaving Rose unmarked inside the six-yard box to fire a powerful shot past the opposition goalkeeper and put City ahead. After West Ham pulled one goal back to level the scoreline before halftime, the title fight remained on a knife edge until star Jamaican striker Khadijah ‘Bunny’ Shaw took control of the match in the second half. Shaw struck her first of the afternoon in the 57th minute, displaying the sharp movement and clinical finishing that has made her one of the most feared forwards in women’s football, before adding a second 15 minutes later. The double took Shaw’s league goal tally to 21 from 22 appearances, securing her the golden boot and cementing her place in WSL history: she is the first player ever to hit the 20-goal benchmark in three consecutive seasons. With just 10 minutes remaining on the clock, veteran midfielder Laura Coombs — who announced earlier this year that she would retire from professional football at the end of the current season — put the final seal on City’s win with a well-taken fourth goal. This title marks Manchester City’s second WSL crown, 12 years after the club claimed the inaugural league championship back in 2016. The result caps off a remarkable turnaround season for City, who overcame pre-season title favorites to finish atop the table and bring major silverware back to the club.

  • Keller Williams gives back on RED Day

    Keller Williams gives back on RED Day

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — On Thursday this year, daily work came to a standstill across every regional office of global real estate network Keller Williams, as the organization marked its signature annual event: RED Day. This long-running tradition, built on the core values of service, gratitude and collective community uplift, brings thousands of agents across the world together each year to step away from their regular professional duties and invest direct effort into the local neighborhoods that sustain their work. Short for “Renew, Energize, Donate”, RED Day has grown far beyond a single corporate CSR project to become a coordinated global movement focused on tangible, on-the-ground impact. While the global initiative paused operations on Thursday, volunteer teams across Jamaica carried out their community projects the following day, focusing their efforts on two of the nation’s most vital mission-driven institutions in locations across Kingston, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay.

    Local Keller Williams agents split into teams to volunteer at two key organizations: The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, which supports young mothers across the country through tailored education programs and wraparound support services, and Westhaven Children’s Home in Hanover, a residential care facility that provides ongoing care and support for children living with disabilities. On-site at Westhaven, volunteers completed much-needed roof repair work that had been a pressing need for the home for months.

    Nicole Touzalin, Qualifying Director for Keller Williams Jamaica, emphasized the deep connection between the firm’s commercial success and the community it serves. “As real estate professionals and members of a global network, we have to recognize that our success is inextricably tied to the strength of the local communities we work in. Every successful transaction, every long-term client relationship, every professional opportunity we get comes from the trust and support local residents give us year after year. RED Day gives us a dedicated moment to step back from our work and give that energy back in a way that is meaningful and tangible for people who need it,” Touzalin explained.

    Beyond the structural repairs at Westhaven, volunteers across both sites participated in a wide range of hands-on activities. Teams refurbished aging facility spaces, built new community gardens and planted native trees, delivered critically needed essential supplies to both institutions, and set aside time to connect directly with residents and care staff. What emerged as the most impactful part of the day, however, was not the physical improvements, but the genuine sense of connection and solidarity built between volunteers and the communities they served.

    Organizers stressed that RED Day is never just about donating material goods or completing construction projects. At its core, the initiative is about showing up, offering compassion, and reinforcing the message that no member of a community has to face challenges alone. Brittany Ffrench, Director of KW Cares Jamaica, noted that the event carries extra weight in Jamaica, where communal connection and shared culture are central to daily life. “Here, corporate responsibility isn’t an optional add-on to doing business—it’s an essential part of being a good community member. When we invest our time and effort into institutions like the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation and Westhaven Children’s Home, we’re not just fixing a roof or sorting supplies—we’re investing in the future of our nation. We’re standing with young mothers working to build a second chance for themselves and their families, and we’re uplifiting children who deserve every opportunity to live with dignity, care and hope,” Ffrench added.

  • La Altagracia: the problems that “punish” the largest tourist province in the Dominican Republic

    La Altagracia: the problems that “punish” the largest tourist province in the Dominican Republic

    The booming tourism hubs of Punta Cana and Bávaro have brought significant economic attention to the Dominican Republic’s La Altagracia province, but this rapid expansion has come at a steep cost, according to local Senator Rafael Barón Duluc. During a recent plenary session of the national Senate, the legislator laid out a stark picture of systemic dysfunction plaguing the province, arguing that La Altagracia has been “punished by its own success” — a surge in tourism and development that has never been matched by proactive government planning or targeted public investment.

    Duluc emphasized that despite the province’s global reputation as a top travel destination, it holds the unenviable title of having the Dominican Republic’s highest rate of accumulated poverty. What growth has occurred, he explained, has been chaotic, unregulated, and deeply unequal, with large swathes of the local population pushed into marginalized, informal settlement with limited access to basic public resources.

    The senator’s remarks came as he advocated for a recently Senate-approved resolution that calls for a one-of-a-kind special population census to be conducted exclusively across La Altagracia. Per reporting from local outlet Diario Libre, the measure formally asks the Dominican President to direct the National Statistics Office (ONE) to carry out this targeted data-gathering effort, a step Duluc frames as the foundational first step to solving the province’s mounting crises.

    Current official demographic figures drastically undercount La Altagracia’s actual population, Duluc explained. While unofficial estimates place the province’s total resident population above one million, thousands of people who have settled in high-growth areas including Verón, Punta Cana, Bávaro, and Higüey have not updated their official residential or electoral registration. This massive data gap, he argued, is the root cause of widespread underprovision of critical public services from education to infrastructure.

    As a pressing example, Duluc pointed to ongoing classroom shortages across Verón, noting that thousands of school-aged children in the area are locked out of access to formal education each year due to a lack of learning facilities, a problem that has never been properly addressed because official population counts do not reflect the actual number of residents. Beyond education, the senator warned that unplanned growth has gutted regional mobility, with traffic congestion in Punta Cana and Verón now regularly outpacing gridlock in the capital city of Santo Domingo during peak periods. Where a trip from Punta Cana International Airport to local resort hotels once took just 10 minutes, Duluc said commuters and travelers now face 40-minute to hour-long delays on a regular basis.

    The senator’s assessment echoes recent warnings from prominent Dominican tourism leader Frank Rainieri, who recently labeled the unregulated, unplanned expansion of real estate and tourism development across Punta Cana fundamentally unsustainable. Duluc noted that Rainieri’s assessment was actually a prudent framing of the crisis, adding that on-the-ground conditions in La Altagracia are far more severe than the entrepreneur has described.

    In closing, Duluc made an urgent plea to national authorities, stressing that the special census is the single most critical priority for the province right now — even more pressing than building new roads, hospitals, or other traditional infrastructure projects. Without accurate, up-to-date demographic data, he argued, no government intervention can effectively address the province’s deep-seated inequalities and growing systemic pressures that threaten both local residents and the long-term sustainability of the region’s core tourism economy.

  • The airlines that will absorb the demand left by Spirit in the Dominican Republic

    The airlines that will absorb the demand left by Spirit in the Dominican Republic

    The exit of U.S.-based low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines from the Dominican aviation market will bring only a moderate shock to the country’s budget flight segment, according to Héctor Porcella, president of the Dominican Civil Aviation Board (JAC). Porcella emphasized that existing carriers are already positioned to absorb all the routes and passenger volume Spirit is leaving behind, easing fears of widespread disruptions or sudden price hikes.

    Spirit’s exit from the Dominican market comes after the collapse of a $500 million rescue financing deal for the airline in the United States, forcing the carrier to wind down its cross-border operations between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. Porcella acknowledged that any airline exit from a market is never ideal for the aviation sector, regardless of the underlying causes, but stressed that the Dominican market’s existing competitive landscape has the capacity to offset the gap.

    Currently, the Dominican low-cost aviation segment is well-served by a mix of international and domestic carriers including Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, local low-cost leader Arajet, and JetBlue — which Porcella classifies as a moderately low-cost operator. Even non-low-cost carriers such as American Airlines are also expected to pick up additional capacity to cover Spirit’s abandoned routes, he added.

    New data on Spirit’s market presence shows the carrier held a measurable but not dominant share of key travel routes between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. In 2025, Spirit carried 470,147 passengers, equal to 4% of the 10.15 million total passengers traveling between the Dominican Republic and Washington D.C. For popular U.S. departure points including Florida, Philadelphia, Boston, Newark, and Baltimore, Spirit held a 20% total market share on routes to the Dominican Republic, a volume that Porcella says can be quickly absorbed by remaining operators.

    Looking ahead to 2026 capacity projections, Spirit had planned to offer 276,000 total seats for arrivals and departures in the Dominican market. All of this seat capacity will be taken up by other active carriers, Porcella confirmed, addressing widespread concerns that reduced competition in the low-cost segment would drive up airfares for travelers.

    A closer look at Spirit’s key markets in the country shows the carrier had already been scaling back its presence long before its full exit. In Fort Lauderdale, one of Spirit’s largest hubs for Dominican routes, the carrier held between 10% and 20% of the market, per local reporting from outlet Acento. On the high-traffic Philadelphia-Punta Cana route, Spirit closed out 2025 with a 20% market share, but that share had plummeted to just 1% by the first quarter of 2026, with American Airlines and Frontier already stepping in as the primary operators on the route.

    On the Fort Lauderdale-Santiago route, Spirit was the undisputed market leader in 2025, but its share had already fallen to 61% by early 2026, while JetBlue’s share climbed to 39% as the carrier expanded to capture growing demand. Porcella noted that Spirit had steadily expanded its operations in the Dominican Republic starting in 2022, but overall passenger volumes on the U.S.-Dominican routes Spirit served have remained stable even as the carrier wound down its operations, meaning no sudden drop in service is expected for travelers.

  • Dominican Republic tourism “remains strong” while competitors are declining

    Dominican Republic tourism “remains strong” while competitors are declining

    Against a backdrop of simmering geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, skyrocketing global crude oil prices, and widespread projections of a synchronized global economic slowdown, the Dominican Republic’s key tourism sector is set to outperform regional peers, drawing unexpected visitor flows from crisis-hit competitor destinations across the Caribbean and Latin America. That is the core assessment delivered by leading economist and financial strategist Richard Medina during the 2026 Economic Perspectives Forum, an industry event hosted jointly by the CCI Stock Exchange and economic research firm Ecoanalítica at Santo Domingo’s El Embajador Hotel.

    Against widespread global economic uncertainty stoked by the escalating Iran-United States conflict and volatile energy markets, Medina reaffirmed that the Dominican Republic’s tourism industry has retained unexpected resilience. “I still see tourism as quite strong,” Medina told attendees of the forum, which centered its discussions on how Middle Eastern geopolitical instability is rippling through the Dominican economy, with specific focus on impacts to oil pricing, domestic inflation, and national public finances.

    Medina explained that the sector’s ongoing solid performance is largely driven by cascading crises that have crippled key rival tourism hubs in the region, pushing international travelers to redirect their trips to the Dominican Republic instead. “Cuba is in the midst of a deep economic and systemic crisis, so a significant share of what would have been Cuba’s inbound tourism should shift to our shores,” he noted. He also pointed to Jamaica, which recently suffered extensive infrastructure damage and service disruptions from a powerful Atlantic hurricane that hit the island last season. “Jamaica is still recovering from the hurricane’s impact, and some of its expected tourism flow is coming to us,” he added.

    The economist also highlighted Cancun, Mexico—one of the Dominican Republic’s top competitors for North American leisure travelers— which has grappled with escalating violent crime and a worsening public security crisis in recent years. “Cancun is facing a major security crisis that has deterred some visitors, and a portion of that diverted tourism could very well end up here,” Medina said.

    Beyond benefiting from regional competitors’ challenges, Medina added that the Dominican Republic has also made solid gains expanding its reach into non-traditional source markets for tourism, with particularly strong growth recorded across South America. “Tourist arrivals from Colombia and Argentina have performed exceptionally well over the past year,” he said. This deliberate market diversification, he explained, has helped the country cut its over-reliance on traditional source markets such as the United States and Canada, strengthening the sector’s stability amid an increasingly unpredictable global landscape.

    Despite the broadly positive outlook, Medina did not downplay the risks the Dominican Republic still faces. He stressed that the country cannot fully insulate itself from the spillover effects of a potential broad global economic slowdown that would curb overall international travel demand. “If we see a widespread slowdown in global tourism volumes this year, we will not escape that impact,” he cautioned. Medina also noted that while foreign exchange-generating sectors—led by tourism—have posted strong recent performance that shored up the country’s economic fundamentals, the Dominican Republic remains highly exposed to external global shocks due to its heavy dependence on imported energy and deep integration into the global economy.

    Even with these caveats, Medina maintained that the overall 2025 outlook for the Dominican tourism sector remains distinctly positive. “Even accounting for these headwinds, I believe we are going to have a very good year for tourism,” he concluded.

  • Dr Patricia Smith presents Tourism Minister with copy of her book ‘I Persist’

    Dr Patricia Smith presents Tourism Minister with copy of her book ‘I Persist’

    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.

  • Transformation taking root at St Andrew Prep with support from Express Canteen Services

    Transformation taking root at St Andrew Prep with support from Express Canteen Services

    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.”