AN accomplished accountant’s commitment to education and passion for helping others achieve, now memorialised in an academic scholarship, is continuing to impact graduate students of accounting at the Mona School of Business Management (MSBM), University of the West Indies, Mona.

Launched in 2020, The Kenneth Chung Memorial Scholarship, sponsored by the family of the late Kenneth Chung in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants ( ICAJ), is awarded annually to a second-year Master of Science in Accounting candidate at the MSBM. The 2022 awardee is Delphina Harrison, an accomplished accountant with over 10 years’ experience in the accounting and auditing fields, now pursuing her dream of accreditation as a chartered accountant.

Speaking on behalf of the family at the third annual presentation of the scholarship at the ICAJ on October 21, Dennis Chung, a former president of the ICAJ, spoke of his late father’s early sacrifices for his family including beginning to work at age 14, to help support eight brothers and sisters.

“Dad was self-taught and worked his way up to financial controller and ensured that his siblings and later his children all got a sound education. This is why when we gathered after the funeral to discuss a way of recognising what he stood for, we all agreed on a scholarship in his name,” Chung said.

Lauding the Chungs for their generosity, guest speaker Robert Morgan, minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for information, said that “Dennis’s story is similar to many second- and third-generation, middle-class families — sacrifice, love for family and country.

“His dad would have grown up in a time of great upheaval and turmoil in Jamaica and that would have helped shape his character. He dropped out of school to support his siblings and borrowed money so his children could go to school and now this scholarship in his name is transforming lives. True legacy is the impact your life has on others, even when you are gone.”

Sharing that he had been the beneficiary of the assistance of the past students association of his alma mater, Clarendon College, when he was in sixth form, Morgan said that “the continuance of positive action causes fundamental change and when you change someone’s life, you change the life of the community, the life of a country”.

Concurring with this view, Shirley Ann Eaton, head of the finance and accounting unit and lecturer at MSBM, said commendation is due to families who contribute to the development of not only their children but others as well.

“The fact that this is the third-consecutive year that the Chung family is presenting this scholarship speaks to the character of this family. All the recipients so far have done very well and we thank the family for their generosity.”

Alison Peart, ICAJ president, said that the late Kenneth Chung was a man who placed tremendous value on education and excellence, character traits of his, which he admired in others.

Noting that for some students, the pursuit of tertiary education is an expectation, while for others, it is a dream, Peart added: “All of us here know of someone who was unable to complete their tertiary education because of financial challenges. Every university offers scholarships but, unfortunately, there isn’t enough for each student. This is where the philanthropic overtures from people like the Chungs play a key role in getting many students through university. I therefore commend ICAJ past President Dennis Chung and his family for having the foresight to establish an accounting scholarship in honour of the late family patriarch.

“I encourage this year’s recipient to embrace the generosity of spirit and humility for which he will always be remembered. Do your very best in the MSc programme to represent Kenneth Chung so that this scholarship can become one of the most sought after awards, for accounting students.”