Seprod Foundation Protection and Hygiene Packages Donation Seprod Foundation saw it imperative to remind Jamaicans to be safe during these unprecedented times with a donation of 1,000 masks and 510 bars of soap to 13 Homes and 2 Primary Schools along with informative safety tip flyers. Donations were made to a number of homes including Glenhope Place of Safety Nursery, Jamaica National Children’s Home, and the City of Refuge Children’s Home. In alignment with the sustainable development goal of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, Seprod Foundation is focused on ensuring that these homes and primary schools in our communities have the resources needed to maintain the health and safety of the staff and children in the ongoing fight against COVID-19.
PEP Scholarship Awards – 2020 Conquerors
2020-2021
One of Seprod Foundation’s top development priorities include strengthening our communities, one individual at a time, through scholarships and grants. Seprod Foundation awarded 40 new scholarships to PEP students. This continues the ongoing scholarships awarded to 108 students overall. We continue to recognize the Late Granville Marsh’s contribution to the company through the Granville Marsh Scholarship Award which was awarded to two top performing students from St. Thomas - Abigail Hunnigan and Kinordo Crawford. Danae Palmer copped the coveted Byron Thompson Award for Academic Achievement. This year, the 2020 recipients were applauded virtually on January 25th and they were motivated to keep conquering their goals from guest speaker, Shani McGraham Shirley.
CASE Scholarship Awards We celebrated the 5 CASE scholars who performed well academically, while giving back to their school and communities, through a virtual ceremony held on February 26th. The scholars shared a bit about themselves and what their scholarship meant to them. With the focus on “The State of Agriculture: Where Do We Go From Here?” the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, The Honorable Floyd Green, MP, the President of JMEA and CEO of Seprod, Richard Pandohie and the President of CASE, Dr. Derrick Deslandes presented on relevant topics to get the scholars thinking about available opportunities in the agriculture industry. Seprod Foundation believes that it is important to promote food security by encouraging and fostering students’ interests in agriculture at the secondary and tertiary school levels and providing available opportunities for these young people through scholarships and internships, while also providing nutritional support where needed.
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Healthy eat
NUTRITION PROGRAMME AT TIVOLI GARDENS HIGH SCHOOL Seprod Foundation, in partnership with Brunswick and Eve, started a Nutrition Programme at the Tivoli Gardens High School on May 26th. The Nutrition Programme involves the provision of food items that are able to form the basis of a healthy and well balanced meal for an initial period of a year. The beginning of the Nutrition Programme coincided with students who were sitting exams being back in schools for face-to-face learning.
GAME DESIGN WEBINAR As an outreach partner for the Code Games Challenge launched by XPRIZE, Seprod Foundation encouraged Jamaican students to enter the global video game design challenge in the summer of 2020 when students were at home without the usual engagement of summer camps and activities. 179 Jamaican students registered using the Seprod Foundation 'classroom.'
EDUCATION WEEK - MARCH 3RD - 5TH LITERACY CARE PACKAGES Some 600 literacy care packages, inclusive of culturally relevant books, stationary, snacks, masks and sanitization items were donated to students in Jamaican primary schools and the Early Childhood Commission during Education Week. The initiative was in collaboration with Marley Diaz, American child activist and writer and the Book Industry Association of Jamaica. A diverse set of partners aided in the effort including Seprod, Carlong Publishers, Collins Publishing, Hodder Education and Scholastic. Denham Town Primary was one of the recipients of these well-deserved literacy care packages.
Two of our students were finalists - Shafene Daye’s Written Game Design Document ‘Duro Double Life’ took 3rd place among the finalists in the senior division track in the final judging. 'The Coney's Legend' by Deomar Wisdom was a finalist in both the Open Platform and the Playable Game - Environment Theme in the senior division track. 11-year-old Dominic Darby copped the Best in Class in Scratch for his game ‘How to Fall.’ He was one of 16 winners who topped over 800 students from over 70 countries across the globe! We got a chance to meet these winners on our Game Design Webinar on April 22nd. who shared both their favorite parts and the most challenging parts of creating a game with code, igniting exciting discussion among the young participants who were eager to learn about how to get started on creating their own game. Seprod Foundation believes that these young coders will learn from each other and create what we hope is a community of young video game designers.
#CODEJAMAICA STEAM ACTIVITIES
THE SEPROD FOUNDATION BUDDING FARMERS GROW CLUB Seprod Foundation is the proud title sponsor of the Seprod Foundation Budding Farmers Grow Club which was launched on May 14th and officially started on May 21st. This initiative is aimed at promoting agriculture among Jamaicans and encouraging them to appreciate the importance of food security to the development of communities. A Budding Farmer is anyone who does not have any formal training in farming or agriculture but is willing to learn and to continue to grow. Budding Farmers participating in the Grow Club will learn about composting, planting from seeds and kitchen scraps, good insects vs. bad insects, organic pesticides, understanding how plants grow, understanding the importance of eating healthy and so much more. You can register your child (aged 3-16 years old) by using this link https://forms.gle/8axB9RzQdiGnbJQC9 Registration fee is $1000 (one time cost) + Monthly Club fee is $500
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TEACHERS DAY We celebrated our teachers at Maxfield Park Primary by gifting them with gift baskets comprised of awesome Seprod products. The teachers felt very appreciated!
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The PolyUp Challenge: Through creative activities, students acquire a deeper understanding of Math, Computer Science, Robotics, AI, Design and Entrepreneurship by coding and creating 3D machines. Teachers can also register and gain a free STEM certification. The Oxford University Computing Challenge: The OUCC Jamaica aims to encourage students to produce programmed solutions to computational thinking problems. Virtual Robotics Jamaica: Virtual Robotics Jamaica includes 3 awesome experiences: the Halls of Learning Robotics League, WRO Robot Virtual Games and WRO international finals. UBISOFT Game Creators Odyssey: A Video Game Design Course: This 6 monthlong course will provide participants 18 years and older with an immersive experience and exposure to the recipe of a top international game developer, Ubisoft. Bebras Challenge: The Bebras Challenge is made up of a set of fun, engaging problems that introduces students to computational thinking skills. Register your kids for one or more of our programmes today.Stay tuned to our social media pages @seprodfoundation for more information or email Lisa at Seprod Foundation directly at ldoyen@seprod.com
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Seprod Foundation & Musson Foundation Back-to-School Drive Seprod Foundation in collaboration with Musson Foundation engaged our staff to contribute to our Back to School Drive. A big ‘thank you’ to all the staff who made donations that can assist other children in preparing for Back to School. We successfully collected exercise books, textbooks and other school supplies that will be packaged and distributed to children’s homes to assist with virtual learning. If you have any back to school items that you would like to donate - please contact Lisa at ldoyen@seprod.com
Robotics League Webinar Series: Supporting SMEs Seprod Foundation has proudly partnered with Halls of Learning to offer Virtual Robotics Jamaica from October 2021 to January 2022 as a part of our series of #codejamaica virtual activities. Each of the 4 tournaments in the Halls of Learning Robotics League has a particular theme and topic. The themes and topics present a unique opportunity for students to learn about the real life problems (and real life solutions) that they are competing to solve in the tournament. The first Under 13 topic is Supporting Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Seprod Foundation hosted a webinar on the theme of Supporting SMEs for primary school students. The webinar featured various experts offering different perspectives on how students can Support SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Richard Pandohie, President of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association explained what SMEs are, and why they are so important to the economy. Callia Smith, Vice President of Programmes at Junior Achievement Jamaica provided students with information on how they can start their own small businesses. Mariame Robinson-McIntosh, President and CEO of First Global Bank helped students understand the role of banks in supporting SMEs.
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Community Donations We continued to provide support to our communities through COVID care packages and Back to School Assistance. We supported communities including Seaview Gardens, Tivoli Gardens, Ackee Walk, Waltham Gardens, Jones Town and Yallahs. We also provided significant assistance to 100 Jamaicans studying in Cuba who were in need of food and sanitary items.
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