Mico University College (Jamaica) Mico’s Over $6M in Scholarships Offer Hope to 53 Students During the Pandemic

On Wednesday November 4, 2020, the Mico University College, in a virtual event, awarded 53 students with scholarships and bursaries to help in continuing their studies for the 2020/2021 academic year.

“This function is reflective of the support that our institution gives to our students through our scholarship programme,” said Dr Asburn Pinnock, President, Mico University College. “I am proud of the recipients because the competition was fierce this year. We received approximately 100 applications and were able to award 53 scholarships and bursaries,” he continued.

“The Alumni office engaged with students using technology, emails, our website and encouraging those who were not sure that they could register this year. In fact, there is a worrying trend of students wanting to defer this academic year. If we can help it, we will have none of that. Donors your contributions have assisted those who have been able to continue in this challenging landscape,” the president added in his address to the recipients.

The individual scholarships were awarded to students across all faculties of the University. Nineteen from the Faculty of Education, 19 from Humanities and Liberal Arts, 13 from Science and Technology and two students from the Pre-University Men’s Programme (PUMP).

According to Dr Pinnock, the University will do what is necessary to ensure that the awardees perform well in their academic pursuits. He continued to express thanks to the donors which included the Family of the late Miconian – Earl Kennedy, Arthur Grant, Clarice May Gore, James Lee Gore, Kemtek Development Ltd., The Graduating Batch of 1946, The Graduating Batch 1963, and Sagicor Foundation among others.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has brought on much uncertainty for a majority of the students awarded. Recipient of the Batch 146 Bursary, Voronica Trought mentioned that “COVID-19 has been rough but in spite of, God always worked things out. Before the school term started, I was not sure how I would pay my fees and I never knew what would have happened.” “I am elated and very grateful for the Batch of 146 who has seen it fit to contribute towards my education. With this scholarship I won’t have the pressure of finding money to do my practicals and pay my school fee because this will be taken care of,” she expressed.

ENCOURAGEMENT FROM “COMMUNITY BLACKBOARD TEACHER”

Struggling to pay tuition fees in moments of uncertainty was no secret to the scholarship award ceremony guest speaker, Taneka Mckoy Phipps, a third-year early childhood education student at The Mico who recently went viral for her contribution to community development in education. In her address to the awardees, she shared her own struggles having enrolled in the institution in 2016 and having to pay her own way due to being unsuccessful at receiving a scholarship.

“My daughter and I paid through the first semester, we struggled through the second semester and we owed through the third semester, just to complete the first year,” she expressed. She went on to encourage the students by stating that, “the extraordinary thing about this journey was that we didn’t know how the second year was going to be paid for but we stepped beyond the borders of our circumstances to achieve excellence in ensuring that we were fully equipped with the right knowledge, skills and work attitude in order to be able to nurture the abilities of the students entrusted in my care. Therefore, today I just want to encourage you all to keep on fighting, striving and keep those grades up.”

The Mico University College’s scholarship programme is administered through the of the Office of Alumni and Development. According to The Mico’s Scholarship Committee, “our students demonstrated that need does not equate to poor performance. For most of the scholarships, our recipients had GPAs of 3.0 and up. They proved that despite their circumstances, they can and must do well.” Over the past 5 years, the Mico University College along with its donors have given over thirty-five million dollars in scholarships and bursaries. They continue to encourage students who exemplify the institution’s core values which are leadership, integrity, service to others, and excellence in performance.