Build a Better Jamaica through Education
12 Dec 2011
"Enabling young people to make a meaningful contribution to society is so important to national building," said Patrick Hylton Group Managing Director of the National Commercial Bank speaking at the University of the West Indies Endowment Fund (UWIDEF) Annual Donor Recognition and Scholarship Awards Dinner on Tuesday evening. UWIDEF is the chief fundraising arm of the UWI Mona campus and provides stewardship for funds raised through capital campaigns and projects, general endowment and planned giving. With NCB as one of the first and enduring donors to UWIDEF, Hylton charged others to give more to the fund to ensure that it grows over time and provide access to tertiary education for more Jamaican young people. This is a main area of philanthropic focus for NCB carried out through the NCB Foundation with some $32 million awarded to students for educational purposes over the past year. Hylton also pointed to the importance of providing strategic assistance to ambitious Jamaican pupils, noting that 10% of the scholarships provided through the NCB Foundation are awarded to first generation university students. This opens up educational possibilities for new demographics of people and makes education a realizable aspiration for those who might not have otherwise received the opportunity. "Everybody, counts, everybody deserves a chance," the NCB head admonished. Sharing a famous quote with the audience, Hylton said that "all men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." He urged both students and corporate entities to continue to be "daydreamers" and aspire to do great things in education that will serve to build a better Jamaica.
