Andrion, second from the right, speaking as a panelist at the Stakeholders’ Consultation.
Picture a fresh-faced high school graduate, unsure of his future, starting life on dorm at the Ebony Park HEART Academy in rural Clarendon. The year is 2004, Usher’s hit single “Yeah!” is on constant rotation, and the Livestock Rearing course is about to begin. This is the backdrop to the Andrion Miller story — one in which HEART/NSTA Trust became the foundation of confidence, knowledge and personal growth.
We caught up with Andrion recently at the World Youth Skills Day celebration held at the HEART/NSTA Newport Campus, Manchester, one of many HEART institutions that marked the occasion.
World Youth Skills Day is a United Nations–designated annual event celebrated globally on July 15. It recognises the importance of equipping young people with the skills they need for employment or entrepreneurship, placing the emphasis on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as the answer to youth unemployment.
Data from STATIN indicates that Youth unemployment in Jamaica stood at 8.81 per cent in 2025 — the third lowest it has been in three decades. That is good news for Jamaica, but the HEART/NSTA Trust, as the country’s National Training Agency driven by national policy directives, wants that number to go even lower.
As the Trust celebrated World Youth Skills Day across its many campuses, bringing together public, private and youth partners, it again brought to the fore the importance of bridging the gap between skills and opportunities for young people. Young people like Andrion — now Parish Manager for Manchester with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC).
Andrion was one of the panellists for the Stakeholders’ Consultation at the event. We spoke with him after witnessing a rambunctious reunion between him and a HEART staff member, who it was later revealed to the interviewer, had been one of his mentors during his time as a trainee.
“My time at HEART remains the best part of my life”
Andrion speaks fondly of his time at HEART, tracing his journey from a precocious trainee to a more confident young adult when he joined the staff as a Demonstrator. He explained, “It is where I learned responsibility — living on dorm and taking on more responsibility later as a leader.”
He would encourage young people to choose HEART, calling it a “great opportunity to upskill.” He added, “HEART opens doors for trainees; it is an excellent place for development.” As the curtains closed on another celebration of World Youth Skills Day, stories like Andrion’s remind us why it matters. The HEART/NSTA Trust is about human development. It is about changing lives — and Andrion’s story is evidence of that.