JHUAN rallies support for J’can students at Howard

The Jamaica Howard University Affinity Network (JHUAN) is seeking increased support for Jamaican students attending Howard University as financial challenges threaten to undermine a century-old tradition of academic achievement at the Washington, DC-based institution.
For more than 100 years, Jamaican students have attended Howard and gone on to make their mark in medicine, engineering, law, academia and other fields.
Since 2018, JHUAN has invested J$81.9 million (US$518,500) in Jamaican students at the university, providing 115 scholarships, 19 freshman fellowships and five finish-line awards for graduating seniors.
More than 65 JHUAN graduates are now working as doctors, engineers, attorneys and scholars.
However, the organisation said the need for financial assistance continues to outpace available resources.
This year, 25 new Jamaican students are preparing to attend Howard, but financial barriers threaten to prevent some from pursuing their studies.
JHUAN said it was therefore appealing to corporate partners, philanthropic leaders and individual donors to help bridge the funding gap and ensure that qualified students can begin and complete their university education.
“No Jamaican student should have to walk onto Howard’s campus alone without support. With your support, we want to make sure they won’t,” said Donald B. Christian, chairman of JHUAN.
“Every gift moves another qualified student from the waitlist onto the Yard,” he added.
The organisation will celebrate the incoming class of Jamaican freshmen this Saturday at its annual Jamaica! Jamaica! Reception at Proven Place in Kingston.
The event will give students and their families an opportunity to meet Howard graduates who have made the journey from Jamaica to the university.
The reception is being hosted by JHUAN alongside Howard University and its benefactor, Wellspring Manor & Spa, based in Maryland, United States.
Among those benefiting from the organisation’s support is Kingston-born Zoey Campbell, a sophomore studying Human Performance at Howard and the 2026 JHUAN Wellspring Scholar.
Campbell said the scholarship had played a pivotal role in her tertiary education journey and was helping her pursue her ambition of developing life-changing prosthetic technology for Jamaican Paralympians.
“The JHUAN scholarship is the most pivotal opportunity in my tertiary education journey thus far. It fuels my motivation and passion to someday contribute life-changing prosthetic advancements to Jamaican Paralympians,” she said.
“JHUAN brings me great national pride and shows me that Jamaica is truly ‘likkle but tallawah’.”