The education sector is one of the most important pillars of our society. While education may be under a lot of scrutiny within the United States, this nation still has a better education system when compared to most second world or third world countries.
For example, most countries in the Caribbean do not have a public school component. Meaning, most, if not all, students in these countries must either come from a rather wealthy family or must rely on various forms of sponsorships. If the children in these nations do not have access to these avenues they are simply not privy to an education. It is in these situations where the Love Unlimited foundation shines brightly.
Created in 2011, Love Unlimited serves as a vanguard for education in the large island nation of Jamaica. In order to understand what Love Unlimited is working against, you must first have a knowledge of the educational situation in Jamaica. In the year that this non-profit organization was started, fifty-two percent of all unemployed people in Jamaica had no formal educational qualification. Fifty percent of first-time job seekers had no educational qualification. Five-hundred thousand people in Jamaica are living below the poverty line and youth ranging in age from fifteen to twenty-four make up twenty percent of those living in poverty. This overabundance of poverty is in part because of the inaccessibility of education, an inaccessibility that founder, Teana Woolcock witnessed firsthand.
Woolcock was originally born and raised in Los Angeles, California. At the age of seven, she took her first trip to Jamaica by herself, in order to spend the summer with her grandfather in St. Ann, Jamaica. Her first and subsequent visits to Jamaica colored her view of the world. Seeing the way her granddad gave back as well as how he was received gradually gave her a love of giving back as well as an inherent connection to the people and the culture of Jamaica. Graduating on the dean’s list from Florida Southern College with a B.A. in Communications with an emphasis in public relations, Woodcock planned out her life in order to give back. It was only on a 2011 vacation trip to Jamaica where she finally saw what she wanted to do with her life.
Woolcock and her Love Unlimited foundation provide backpacks and school supplies to underprivileged children in Jamaica. Each summer the foundation puts together a program called the LOVE U camp where children living in poverty are able to embrace who they want to be, be creative and most of all have fun.
Florida Southern College has continued to pump out an excess amount of successful alumni. Woolcock is a great example of just one alumni who has attempted to pass her success on to the next generation with her Love Unlimited foundation. She serves as a prime example of the ability we have to impact the world around us.
