REFLECTING on the building blocks of his success, well-known Sports Journalist and media personality Rawle Toney has decided to pay it forward to his alma mater, the Amelia’s Ward Primary School.

This year, following the announcement of the results for this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), Toney decided to start up the Jarrell Toney Grant for top-performing pupils of the school.

The grant is for pupils of the Linden school to help in their journey towards higher education. It is being offered to the overall top-performing student and the top-performing students in the area of sport.

“It’s my old primary school and most of the memories I have from my school days I’ve had there and that school has had a lasting impact on my life,” Toney said.

Reflecting on his young boy days, he shared that the community was a closely knitted one, whereby the teachers were more than just people who taught you in school. In fact, according to him, “these teachers… played a very important role in who I am right now because of the care and interest they have shown throughout my life.”

This year, Toney is also celebrating 15 years of working in the media. His media journey started right in Linden, in 2004, and the community was very supportive of his endeavours and as such, he felt it was an opportune time to pay it forward.

The first recipient of the Jarrell Toney grant was Ashanti Balgobin, who scored 514 marks and earned a spot at The Bishop’s High School. She received the grant from Toney, along with a school bag, compliments of social media personality ‘Melly Mel’.

DJ Akelo, also a former student of Amelia’s Primary, joined hands with Toney to sponsor trophies and uniform vouchers for the two Grade Six students who excelled in the area of sports.

Persons, who also attended the primary school and even some who didn’t but were feeling a bit magnanimous, also reached out to Toney, so that moving forward, even more could be done for the school.

“What also pushed me to do more for the school directly was that even though I haven’t been in the compound for a number of years, I drove by recently and everything still looks the same way as when I attended years upon years ago,” Toney said, stressing, “That should not be.”

Moving forward, Toney and his group of supporters will be helping to boost the aesthetics of the school by rebuilding the playground and providing support to the student-athletes with some sports gear and funding.

“It is not a grant where the money will just be spent on books and uniforms, but it is to help the school as well,” he explained. “It’s my little pet project, and I promise that I will try to continue it probably for as long as I have life.”

Importantly, he hopes that this grant could be continued even after him and this is one reason why it was named after his son, Jarrell. Toney said that he has worked to ensure that his son has everything he needs, but that he also wants him to understand that there is much more to life.

“Naming it in his honour is part of teaching him humility; that life is more than just receiving. It is also about helping those who are not as fortunate as you are and it is also about looking back to the place from where you had a foundation and helped you along your journey of success,” the elder Toney reasoned.