The Jamaica College Old Boys Association of Florida (JCOBAFL) will be hosting a “Wine and Cheese Networking and Scholarship Fundraiser” on Thursday May 27, 2010 from 6 – 9 p.m. at the Seventh Street Wine Company, Downtown Ft. Lauderdale.
The event is being hosted in conjunction with the Caribbean Bar Association (CBA), the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) and the St. Andrew Old Girls’ Association of South Florida.
Ray Stephenson, the President of the JCOBAFL commented that, “this event will encourage collaboration and cooperation among various professional groups and alumnae affiliated with North America, the Caribbean and Jamaica . It also targets the younger alumni to get them involved in the activities of their associations, and to give them an opportunity to see how they can contribute to the schools which gave us the foundation to become the professionals that we are today.”
Damion Simon , a Director of the JCOBAFL, and the organizer of the Networking Night said, “this event is even more relevant in these times given the high levels of unemployment in South Florida today, the need for building a network is even more important. The JCOBAFL is encouraging persons within our local community to come out and make some new connections.”
This year, in addition to networking, the organizers of the event plan to raise scholarship funds to help last year scholarship recipients complete their degree programs. Five current and past Jamaica College students received scholarship grants from money raised at last year’s Wine and Cheese event. Last year’s scholarship recipients were Kemar Donigan, Michael Dixon, O’Neil Hall, Clinton Walcott and Jerome Cowan. Kemar Donigan has completed his program at JC and he is awaiting the results of some additional subjects taken through Quality Academics. Michael Dixon is going to be entering his final year at UTECH to complete a BS Degree in Computer and Information Technology. O’Neil Hall was accepted into Law School at the University of the West Indies and is about to complete his first year at Cave Hill Campus, Barbados . Clinton Walcott is about to enter the third year of his bachelor degree program at the University of the West Indies, Mona and will apply for Law School upon completing his degree. Jerome Cowan is about to complete the first year of a three year bachelor degree program in economics.
These five ambitious young men come from challenging economic circumstances and our goal this year is to raise enough money to cover their tuition, books and living expenses.