Teacher’s sons honour legacy of giving

Two outstanding students at Windsor Forest Primary School in eastern Portland were recently presented with scholarships worth $25,000 each to assist with their preparations for the upcoming school year.
The scholarship winners, Grade One students Ariah Jones and Kajari Burke, demonstrated the greatest need while performing well academically. Each was also presented with a tablet.
The scholarships, given in the name of former principal Grethel Forrester-Benjamin, were presented by her son, Christopher Benjamin, community affairs officer at the Jamaican Consulate in New York.
Additionally, each child in Grade One received a backpack stocked with school supplies.
In recognition of the strong performance of the entire Primary Exit Profile class, all 15 students were also presented with a grant of $7,500 each to assist with their back-to-school preparations.
Established two years ago, the scholarships are presented annually to two Grade One students who demonstrate the greatest need while performing well academically.
The programme, launched by Forrester-Benjamin’s sons Christopher and Lloyd, honours the memory of their mother, who gave more than 43 years of service to the school. She taught at Windsor Forest Primary from 1967 until her retirement in 2009.
During her time at the school, Forrester-Benjamin’s concerns extended far beyond the chalkboard.
She started a breakfast programme because she did not want to see any child go hungry. The initiative led to a marked increase in attendance.
Apart from serving as principal, Forrester-Benjamin also chaired the Fair Prospect Basic School. In recognition of her service to that institution, backpacks were donated to its students as part of this year’s back-to-school efforts.
Forrester-Benjamin was a fixture at Windsor Forest Primary who shaped the lives of generations of children in eastern Portland.
Her sons have pledged to sustain the initiative well into the future.
“Our mother dedicated most of her life to teaching the youngest and I felt that supporting this group would be the best way to honour her memory,” said Christopher.
Past students and colleagues alike remember Forrester-Benjamin as someone who would reach into her handbag to find change for children who came to school without lunch money, never wanting a child to go without.
For a small institution serving the rural communities of eastern Portland, the support has been a welcome boost, easing the financial burden on families at a time of year when the costs of uniforms, books and supplies weigh heavily on household budgets.
For Christopher, the public nature of the scholarships represents something of a departure from the family’s usual approach.
“She did what she did quietly and for me this is a departure,” he reflected, while noting that the decision to formalise and publicise the scholarship programme was deliberate — a way of ensuring that his mother’s example of service is not lost but instead passed on to the next generation.
lester.hinds@gleanerjm.com