It’s full-speed ahead for sixth-form students preparing to sit their final-year exams.

Fortunately, for more than 1,200 high school students — drawn from high schools across the span of the island — their test pressures this May and June will be alleviated with expert insights from university lecturers.

Through a partnership between the JPS Foundation and the University of West Indies (UWI) science and technology department,  the teenagers benefited from a week-long series of workshops focused on their Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subject areas. 

“We are doing Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam (CAPE) subjects across the gamut of what the university offers in the science faculty,”  said Dr. Andre Coy, associate dean for external engagement at UWI, of the series of workshops that kicked off on Monday (January 12) at the tertiary school’s Mona campus.

“They [the students] are doing geography and geology,  computing, biology, chemistry and physics for the week. We are going through topics in Unit 1 and Unit 2 for all of those subjects,” Coy further detailed. 

“The idea is to help them prepare for the theory-based sections of the exams as well as the labs. They are able to do their internal assessments by taking part in the labs and preparing for submissions to the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).”

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between UWI and the Foundation, signed in 2023,  totals J$16-million over a five-year period. It facilitates a reduction in the workshop price to students, from potentially $5,000 to $1,500. The price is held at $1,500 for five years.

Now in its third year, the CAPE/STEM workshops are intensive deep-dives into areas of study for the secondary school students.

“What they do throughout the workshop is look at specific parts of the curriculum that CXC has identified issues with,” the associate dean explained. “For instance, in Physics, they are looking at simple harmonic motion and operational amplifiers in Unit 1 and Unit 2, respectively. We have identified that students are having challenges in those areas and so we use the expertise from the university to help them to understand the topic and to be able to engage with it.”

Another problem area tackled in the workshop is chromatography in chemistry.

Dr. Coy expounded: “A lot of the issues stem from the fact that students don’t have the equipment or the consumable chemicals that they need in their high schools to explore this chemistry topic in its entirety. So when they come here, they get not just access to the technology and the chemicals, they get access to the expertise of the people who are actually doing novel research in chromatography, so it’s a holistic experience. Not only are they doing the subject material but they are getting to interact with people who are doing research and get an understanding of what the campus feels like and how it is run.”

For Safreen Blake, an upper sixth form student at Wolmer’s High School for Girls,  being a participant in the CAPE/STEM workshop is of immediate benefit, given her present pursuit of science subjects.

“I would love to become a veterinarian or an environmentalist,” the 18-year-old revealed in an interview after she won a $5,000 gift certificate from Fontana Pharmacy as a spot prize for a challenge thrown out to the gathering.

Blake was first to raise her hand with a climate-resilient pitch among her high school peers gathered in the UWI Science and Technology lecture hall for the workshop’s opening session. Other students on Day One were from Wolmer’s Boys, St. George’s College, York Castle, Jose Marti Technical High, Manchester High,  Merl Grove, Camperdown, and St. Hilda’s.

“We know that pollution is a big problem in Jamaica, and I see that not many people are doing something about it,” pointed out the teen, now deep in the books studying biology, chemistry, and computer science. “I thought of the idea that we could compose a substance to put in bodies of water that are polluted areas to bring the pollution to the top of the water level. I feel there is something in the long term future that we could develop to soften chemicals in the polluted areas and separate it,” she explained.

JPS Foundation Head Sophia Lewis was impressed with Blake’s innovative pitch and pleased with the ongoing success of the CAPE/STEM workshop partnership programme.

“This is possibly one of our most impactful initiatives, and we look forward to doing this at the start of the year because it is a very strong start to our activities,” said the power company foundation lead. ” We have over 1,000 students who come out and are engaged in STEM activities. They are eager and excited to learn, and as a Foundation, we are the bridge between the students and JPS.”

She said the five-day workshop, which begins each day with engaging presentations from different departmental leaders of JPS, enlightened the participants of what happens behind-the-scenes and possible careers to consider.

“They are able to understand the role of JPS and how energy management works. They are also able to dream big to know that although they are students, they can be part of something bigger when it comes to innovation and when it comes to energy management of our nation,” Lewis elaborated.

As to what is unique for this year’s iteration of the workshop, she noted: “What will be different this year, as in everybody’s life, we are going to be connecting what is happening with the Hurricane Melissa restoration with what the students are studying. We are going to try to let them understand it’s not just about physics and decimals, it is about how we use this kind of thinking to support the restoration of our country in the event of a natural disaster.”

Besides the CAPE/STEM Workshops, on the agenda for the JPS Foundation this year will be its Climate Action Conference and Expo. The event, which was postponed last November,  is slated to be held in March.

“We wanted to do it in 2025 but Hurricane Melissa shifted our focus.  Incidentally, at that time, the theme for the conference was Road to Resilience: Energy, Disaster Preparedness and Food Security, all relevant to what is happening now,” Lewis said. 

“So, we are pushing ahead as part of our Hurricane Melissa response, where public education is concerned, to have students understand what is happening now, and how as future innovators and professionals in the STEM space, what they need to do to prepare for the future.”

Also on tap for March is the JPS Energy Club Debate Competition for high school students enrolled in the Foundation’s club chapters across the country.