Jamaican Businessman Honored

The campaign in its third year is designed by CUNY to assist them with spreading the message on the importance of a good education as well as the importance of giving back to their school and community. The Public education campaign was launched during the first week of January 2005 with the image of Hawthorne, the patty maverick.

Hawthorne was recognized by the CUNY community as a distinguished alumnus who constantly gives back to his alma mater, Bronx Community College. Recently the businessman launched a series of scholarships valued at over $25,000 to BCC. His company, Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery and Grill is also instrumental in giving scholarships to high schools students to pursue higher education. A scholarship started more than six years ago benefiting many is also named in honor of his mother, Mavis Hawthorne, now deceased. Many children in the United States as well as Jamaica are recipients of the generous scholarships and support given by Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery. A recent scholarship was also given to the Family Support System in the Bronx to assist with educating the foster families within their organization.

“CUNY is interested in telling the story of our students, like Hawthorne and his successes. The interesting thing is that many of them are giving back to their respective schools,� said Michael Arena, director of media relations at the City University of New York.

“We have been fortunate as we have seen a significant increase in the enrolment numbers of our universities since the start of this programme a few years ago,� said Arena. He said that the increase is evident across all ethnic groups and is a significant amount over previous years. The director of media relations says the campaign will be around for several months and that he hopes that it will assist students on giving back and to ensure that students hear about some of the opportunities and the benefits to be gained from this campaign.