Black Immigrant Daily News

Academically-gifted students from low-income Jamaican families are encouraged to apply for the New Seasons Youth Program (NSYP), which places undergraduates at predominantly Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the US.

New Seasons collaborates with HBCUs, and they, in turn, provide these financially challenged but brilliant students with “full-ride scholarships”.

The NSYP was founded in 2008 by Ray Jackson and his late wife, De’Adrianne Jackson.

Since its inception, NSYP has secured more than US$4.5 million in scholarships on behalf of participants. Many of them have gone on to work with Fortune 500 companies in the US.

Adrian Rhoden, 20, a former student of Cornwall College in St James, is a current recipient of an NSYP scholarship. He studies Biology at Alabama A&M University in the southeastern region.

Rhoden completed 6th form at Cornwall College in 2021 with 24 subjects from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) in both CAPE and CSEC.

Rhoden achieved the highest grade possible (Grade One) in 22 of those subjects.

The native of Flower Hill in the parish was raised by a single mother, Claudia Jarrett, since his father, Oscar Rhoden, passed in 2017.

He hopes to become a doctor. Rhoden shared that the NSYP has allowed him to achieve his college goals without financial worry.

“I’ll be forever grateful to the New Seasons Youth Program for connecting me with the AAMU Presidential Scholarship, which pays for everything regarding my studies. This includes tuition, books, housing, and a meal plan,” said Rhoden from his dorm room.

Currently, there are four Jamaican students on the programme studying at HBCU schools in Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee. Meanwhile, two Jamaicans have completed the programme and are now gainfully employed in the US.

Board Director with NSYP, Elaine Palmer, said that although it is good that they have improved the lives of these Jamaican students, they want to expand the offer to more students locally.

“NSYP is eager to assist as many Jamaicans as possible. It is exhilarating to know we can impact a generation with this opportunity. Jamaica has some brilliant students who are just yearning for an opportunity to attend college,” Palmer stated.

The NSYP initiative is a non-profit Christian organisation designed to provide quality post-secondary (college) education in the US to academically gifted youth and young adults from Africa and the Caribbean.

Palmer said the organisation aims to help African and Caribbean youth build and sustain a better life through education. She noted that, aside from Jamaica, scholarship recipients have come from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and other African countries.

Sianna Christian is from the central Jamaica parish of Clarendon and completed her undergraduate studies at Lemoyne Owens in 2021.

Christian graduated with the distinction of being valedictorian and is now pursuing her Master’s Degree in Financial Management.

Prospective students for the NSYP should be high-school graduate and have attained academic excellence, leadership, and preferably an SAT international test minimum combined score of 1150.

Applicants also go through a rigorous interview before being selected. They should not be above 23 years old.

If recruited through New Seasons by an American college or university, the recipient is awarded a full-ride scholarship which may include airfare and ground transportation to the city of their college or university.

All fees associated with visa, passport, and college applications will be covered by New Seasons.

Additionally, each student will be provided with clothing and an incidental stipend to assist with purchasing the appropriate clothing for the climate in which they will be living and to provide them with the necessities they will need for dormitory life.

The application period for some US colleges commences between November and February, hence those interested to garner an NSYP scholarship are advised to start the application process now.

“The application process is very competitive so students need to be prepared,” said Palmer.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

PARAMARIBO — ExxonMobil heeft woensdag twee ontdekkingen aangekondigd bij de Sailfin 1- en Yarrow 1-putten in het Stabroek-blok voor de

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Rédaction web

En raison d’un écoulement d’eaux usées à la plage de Petit-Havre au Gosier, la mairie de la commune a décidé d’y interdire la baignade.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Planning for the holidays or a vacation can be overwhelming. Hence the reason you need a holiday fund.

Here we are going to define what a holiday fund is, how to make your own and the benefits of having one.

A holiday fund is money set aside throughout the year for everything holiday-related.

Holiday-related activities include Christmas, birthdays, vacations, etc.

Building a holiday fund prevents you from struggling for cash when the holidays come around. One of the main benefits of having a holiday fund is that it allows you to have enough money to spend on anything you would like.

And if you don’t end up spending all the money, you can save it up for another occasion or spend that excess money on something else.

There are many advantages of having a holiday fund. Among them are:

1) It’s a great way to avoid debt during the holiday because we tend to overspend and take on debt we didn’t need. A holiday fund can prevent overspending because you know how much there is to spend. Therefore, you can set aside the money for those expenses.

2) Holiday fund equals less stress. Preparing for any holiday can be stressful by itself. Therefore, you don’t want to add money stress to the mix of it all. Saving for your purchases in advance helps to prevent the stress of last-minute shopping and overspending.

3) It prevents you from dipping into your emergency fund. In the event, you do have an emergency fund, you don’t want to be spending on non-emergency items using money from your emergency fund.

Some of you might be wondering, what if I’m in debt? Can I still have a holiday fund?

The answer is Yes!

You can still have a holiday fund while currently in debt. This can be achieved with the right strategy and a good budget system. You’ll be able to pay off your debt while saving for a holiday fund.

A holiday fund and a holiday budget go hand in hand.

It’s important to know how much you plan to spend to know how much to save.

You can create a holiday budget by making a list of gifts of what and who you want to buy for, and then decide how much you would like to spend.

To know how much money to save monthly for your holiday fund, you can determine the total amount of money you require for the holiday and then divide that by 12 to get your monthly savings.

Are you ready to build a holiday fund but don’t know how? Here are a few tips on how to get started:

1) Create a separate account just for holiday spending2) Create a saving goal and set up an automatic deposit3) Consider a cash-back credit card4) Start a side hustle just for your holiday fund

It’s never too late to start a holiday fund. So even if you’re reading this now, you still have time to save for the winter holiday.

Bear in mind that a holiday fund doesn’t mean saving for the Christmas season only. It’s an all-year-round saving for any holiday. By creating a holiday fund, no matter what time of the year, you can reap the benefits of your savings when any holiday comes around.

Keisha Bailey is an experienced investment strategist who teaches people how to earn passive income, create wealth, reclaim time and reach financial freedom by investing. She works with investors to create highly profitable portfolios so that they can build wealth faster. If you want to learn how to level up your money, she can be reached at keisha@profitjumpstarter.com.

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