Hamilton,
29
January
2019
|
14:37 PM
America/New_York

Global Experiences

13 Mohawk students heading to Jamaica to renovate primary school

Thirteen Mohawk students are heading to Jamaica on February 15, 2019 for the second half of a two-part project that began last fall.

In November 2018, 12 students and handful of faculty and staff spent a week installing new computers, setting up a network for the school and providing workshops for students and teachers at Bowden Hill Primary School in Jamaica’s eastern region, not far from the capital of Kingston.

This time, 11 students from Mohawk’s Construction Engineering Technology and Building Renovation programs and two from the college’s Photography program will spend 10 days renovating the school’s kitchen and building a library for the students. The students will be joined by faculty and staff who will oversee the renovations.

Bowden Hill Primary made the news in Jamaica in 2015. According to Jamaican media, the school was ordered closed in 2015 due to low enrolment. The local community rallied around the school and the government agreed to reopen it if the community could boost enrolment numbers. By 2017 the school had 85 students and came to be known as the “beacon on the hill”.

The Mohawk project is getting a lot of attention in Jamaica. While the students are completing the renovations they will be visited by Canada’s High Commissioner in Jamaica.

The Jamaica project is part Mohawk's Global Experiences initiative and funded in part by the Province’s Career Ready Fund. The Jamaica trip and other international projects including a project in Chalkida, Greece last fall are among a series of new experiential learning opportunities that were introduced by Mohawk. Mohawk received $1.1 million through the fund.

Watch a video about Phase 1 of the project at Bowden Hill School: https://vimeo.com/313241752

Students must fundraise in order to participate in the program. If you are interested in supporting their work please visit: https://mohawkcollege.thankyou4caring.org/pages/general-donation. Select the Jamaica Project from the drop down menu.