Inez Turner for scholarship convention

Jamaican student-athletes and their parents and guardians are being urged to attend the first USA/Jamaica Scholarship and Athletic Convention and College Fair, set for the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, October 31.

Inez Turner, former Jamaica middle-distance runner, now coach, is expected to host as many as 300 fourth to sixth-form students expected to attend.

They will be provided with information to help them develop contacts with US colleges and universities offering academic and athletic scholarship opportunities.

The convention, being held under the theme, 'A Debt-Free Education', is being staged with the US Elite International Track and Field Incorporated.

The decade-old organisation that is hoping to have Jamaican student athletes enrolled in its Liaison International Scholastic Programme (LISP).

scholarship

The programme was developed in 2006 to encourage and assist college-bound track and field student-athletes with their college-matriculation process, scholarship opportunities, and to compete at the collegiate level while pursuing their educational goals.

To date, the organisation has assisted many students internationally in acquiring 100 per cent scholarship awards to top colleges and universities, from which several student-athletes have successfully graduated with bachelor degrees and as All-Americans in track and field with a grade-point average (GPA) of 3.5.

US Elite International Track and Field, Inc acts as a Liaison between domestic college coaches and domestic and international high school athletes through LISP.

Over the years, many Jamaican athletes, including Wolmer's Girls' Shauna Helps have won scholarships to US colleges and universities.