The hall of the Caribbean Military Academy buzzed with excitement last Friday, August 28, 2026 as 45 young Jamaicans prepared to march across the stage and collect their awards — the second cohort of the Jamaica National Service Corps (JNSC) Workforce Development Programme to reach its closing-out ceremony.
Among them was Jahshawn Jackson. A former self-employed YouTube creator, Jackson joined the JNSC to gain structured, professional experience. He told the writer that, after a short waiting period, he entered the Business Administration group of the programme just before Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica.
Asked what he found most challenging, Jackson said he had a storm of his own to weather: learning to stand before a large group and deliver a presentation. His time doing drama at Pembroke Hall High School, he said, helped him find his footing along with the discipline and the core value of courage he learnt from the JDF.
Today, he is a proud graduate of the Business Administration programme. The discipline instilled by the JDF and the professionalism he picked up working in an actual business, he said, have changed his life.
Jahshawn is one of many young Jamaicans whose stories are the real evidence of the HEART/NSTA Trust’s work — proof of what steady support can do for a young person willing to listen and learn.
Delivered through a partnership between the HEART/NSTA Trust and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), the JNSC Workforce Development Programme pairs the discipline of military-style training with the skills competence the Trust is known for. It is built for young Jamaicans struggling with unemployment, and the Trust’s role is to turn months of structured national service into a marketable skill — from business administration to electrical installation. Cohort Two began on January 9 this year and carried its participants through an intensive eight-month, three-phase journey of personal growth, discipline, and technical training, beginning with a development camp designed to instill a disciplined mindset and a readiness to learn.
Addressing the ceremony, representatives from the HEART/NSTA Trust and the JDF commended the graduates for their commitment and perseverance. Lieutenant Colonel McKenzie urged them to hold on to what the training had instilled, reminding them that success is built on steady effort rather than pure motivation. “Don’t underestimate the importance of doing simple things well,” he said. “The path of discipline continues even in the absence of motivation.”
Speaking on behalf of her fellow trainees, Shaniqua Brown called the experience both a privilege and an honour, reflecting on how far she and her peers had come. What united the cohort, she said, was a shared willingness to learn. For Devontae Watson, a trainee in Domestic Electrical Installation, the programme sharpened his professional standards; he spoke of the value of attention to detail and of approaching every task with care.
Graduates credited the programme with instilling the JDF’s core values — courage, commitment, honour, integrity, loyalty, and discipline — principles they said had prepared them not only for the workplace but for lives of meaningful service to their communities and country.
Forty-five young Jamaicans walked into this programme uncertain of where they were headed. On Friday, they walked across the stage as graduates — steadier, surer of themselves, and ready for whatever comes next. For the HEART/NSTA Trust, that transformation is the whole point.