Teen sisters fund five-year PEP scholarships through Myrie Foundation

At 13 and 12, Malia and Miya Myrie are already steering the Myrie Scholarship Foundation, a youth-run effort that is changing outcomes for children around Jamaica. What started as a wish to ease pressure on households hit by COVID-19 has become a drive that now delivers scholarships, school gear and encouragement to pupils who might otherwise fall through the cracks.

With backing from their mother, Patricia Wright Myrie, the sisters launched the foundation in 2022 amid the pandemic’s toughest stretch. As households wrestled with the economic shock and many pupils went without basic classroom materials, the girls decided the quiet kindnesses they had already shown could grow into something with wider reach.

Since then they have visited Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Clarendon, Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine, staging children’s treats and handing out backpacks, stationery and other school essentials to pupils in need.

This year the sisters — Malia, 13, and Miya, 12 — are widening that work so four Primary Exit Profile (PEP) candidates do not lose out on secondary school because of money. Backed by their parents, they are offering four scholarships for PEP students in need. Each award pays five years of tuition plus uniform, school supplies and lunch money, so a child can focus on learning and doing well.

For Malia, every gift placed in a child’s hands underlines how generosity can reshape a life. “When we do these things, we feel happy and not only grateful that we’re able to help but also grateful that they’re happy about what they’re getting and that they can make it through the school year with the things that they need,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

The Campion College pupil said her school’s culture of service has deepened her own drive to give. “We have this thing where, at school, we can help other students pay for their lunch and the books that they need and basic resources. And it’s kind of the same thing when we do the treats, we give them the necessities like backpacks, pencils, lunch kits, stuff like that — so we have not only children that go to our school, but also children around Jamaica that need help,” she said.

Younger sister Miya, who has finished her PEP assessments and will also enter Campion College, says the foundation has taught her a core life lesson. “There is a saying that goes, ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.’ That means even the biggest dreams start with doing one small thing every day. Those little steps may not seem important at first, but they add up. One day of learning becomes one week. One week becomes one year. Before you know it, you have achieved something amazing,” she reasoned.

Their mother, Wright Myrie, says she recognises that truth from experience. An alumna of the Convent of Mercy Academy “Alpha”, she recalls high-school years when she often could not pay for lunch or the fare to get to class. Seeing her daughters lean into community giving moves her deeply, she said, because she knows what it means to receive help when resources are scarce.

“It’s very important to teach your children to give back, not only to their peers but to just the wider community. Just helping people, in general, is very important. There’s so much out there to do for just everybody. You just don’t know what somebody is going through. No one knew that I didn’t have lunch money when I was going to school. No one knew that, but I showed up, and I got it done,” said Wright Myrie. “I had to stand up at Sabina Park wall to wait and see who passing to get a ride because I don’t have a bus fare to go home. I’d have to take two buses, so you just don’t know what somebody else is going through. It’s just such a blessing that God has given to me and my family, so that we can actually help somebody else. It is a beautiful feeling,” she added.

She said her path echoes that of a recent scholarship recipient who won a place at Campion College yet nearly declined it over cost. “She’s a top girl at her school and they weren’t going to take up the offer to attend Campion because she couldn’t afford lunch money,” Wright Myrie shared, moved to tears. “Her guardian explained to her that she wouldn’t be able to attend the school and if she does go to the school, she wouldn’t be able to have lunch a lot of days. That child didn’t go through the regular processing [for assistance] to be honest with you. I kind of cheated the system a little bit, but things like that really touch your heart,” she said, adding she was glad to be able to step in.

As the foundation grows, the sisters want other young people to see the influence they already hold. “If a lot of young people have the same mindset that, ‘I’m not gonna make a difference,’ and ‘What I do in this world will not amount to anything,’ if we all have that same mindset the outcome is gonna happen. I feel like we should change our mindset and think that even though we may be small, our impact on the world can make a huge difference and what you do can change people’s lifestyles, the way they think, and how they work,” said Malia.

Urging children to aim high, Miya noted that “dreams don’t work unless you do”. “Dreaming is only the beginning. Every day you must keep learning, working hard, being kind, and believing in yourself,” she said. She stressed that “every big dream starts with one little step. Every challenge makes you stronger. Every mistake helps you learn, and every act of kindness makes the world a better place”.