Eleven (11) of Jamaica’s brightest students competed for one of the oldest, and most prestigious international scholarship programmes, the Rhodes Scholarship this year, and on November 10, 2022, David Salmon was announced the victor.

A graduate of The University of the West Indies, (The UWI), Mona, Salmon recently completed his first degree in Public Policy and Management in the Faculty of Social Sciences. He is currently pursuing his graduate degree in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge after receiving the HRH Prince of Wales Scholarship.  Salmon was also one of the five valedictorians in the 2022 Graduation Ceremonies hosted at the Mona Campus (November 3-5, 2022).

Commenting on Mr Salmon’s achievement, Professor Dale Webber, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal said: “From the moment I met David I knew he would be a force to be reckoned with. His selection from the group of some very impressive young Jamaicans to be the 2023 Rhodes Scholar was not at all surprising. The entire UWI Mona Family is very proud of his accomplishments. I expect this young man to do great things for this country, the region and indeed the world.”

Responding to the award, Mr Salmon said: “It is truly an honour to receive the Rhodes Scholarship as this has been a dream of mine since I was 15. I am extremely happy and grateful for this opportunity especially given the range of exceptional candidates that applied this year. I am also elated to celebrate this achievement with my family, lecturers and mentors who have guided me to become the man I am today.”

Excellence has been his defining quality as Mr. Salmon was also a recipient of the coveted UWI Open Scholarship in 2020. And so after completing his high school career at the Wolmer’s Trust High School for Boys, he enrolled in the Faculty of Law at The UWI, Mona. As fate would have it, law was not to be his final destination as in less than two weeks after commencing this journey, he had a change of heart and decided to transfer to the Faculty of Social Sciences to pursue a BSc in Public Policy and Management - a decision that changed his life. Guided by his grandfather’s maxim, “The word 'can’t' does not exist.  Remove it from your vocabulary,” Salmon has sought to take on new frontiers with confidence and determination.

Expressing her joy for her son’s achievement, Mrs Donnahae Rhoden-Salmon said “I am absolutely elated at my son’s achievement. It has been a journey that has not always been smooth but I certainly enjoyed the ride. I take this opportunity to thank everyone who has impacted his life throughout the years. I would also like to highlight his lecturers at The UWI, namely Professor Schoburgh, Dr Campbell and Dr Gatchair who taught and moulded my son for the three years he was a student in the Department of Government.”.

First awarded in 1902, one of the founding objectives of the Scholarship was to identify young people from around the world with a disposition for leadership and service. Scholars go on to pursue further studies at Oxford University, where they forge bonds of mutual understanding and fellowship with people of diverse backgrounds and experiences for the betterment of mankind. The following statement remains one of the founding aims of the scholarship: to select outstanding young people, with the potential to lead, who will make an impact for good in the world in later life… and most would agree that Salmon is the embodiment of such a young man.

Biography

After graduating from his alma mater, the Wolmer’s Trust High School for Boys, David became a student of the Faculty of Law at The UWI, Mona. He did not know that at the time that, law was not to be his final destination.  In less than two weeks after starting, he decided to transfer to the Faculty of Social Sciences to pursue a BSc in Public Policy and Management. This decision changed his life and David has never looked back. Guided by his grandfather’s maxim, “The word 'can’t' does not exist.  Remove it from your vocabulary,” David has sought to take on new frontiers with confidence and determination.

Excellence has been his defining quality as Salmon was also a recipient of the coveted UWI Open Scholarship in 2020. In 2021, he received the Caribbean Civilization Prize for being the course’s top-performing student. That same year he received the Paulette L. Wilson Prize for best performance in Introduction to Public Policy and Management final examination, the Archie Singham Memorial Prize for best performance in the courses Foundations of Caribbean Politics and Politics of the Caribbean and the Carl Stone Memorial Prize for best performance in Research Methods in Governance I and II. While in 2022, he received the Faculty of Social Sciences Academic Achievement Award for having the second-highest GPA.

David also took a keen interest in campus life, as he pursued his talents to the fullest. He served as Vice President of The UWI Debating and Public Speaking Society in the 2020/2021 academic year, where he organized the society’s first successful online awards ceremony. He was also a part of the Faculty of Social Sciences Honours Society and the Society for Future Policy Leaders. He brought recognition to the university, as he was the Best Debater at the 2022 Jamaica Association for Debating and Empowerment (JADE) Debate Academy and Open Competition.

He was a part of the winning team that successfully defended their title in the JADE National Collegiate Debating Championship (NCDC) for both 2021 and 2022. He received the award for the best debater in both competitions. Additionally, he represented the university in the World Universities Debating Championship in July 2021. For his performance, David received the JADE Debater of the Year Award (2019 – 2020) and The UWI Certificate for Outstanding Performance in Culture for the field of Debating (2022). David also represented The UWI at the Harvard Model United Nations competition which was held in Boston (February 2022).

David is a prolific writer and award-winning journalist who frequently publishes articles in the Daily Gleaner. Throughout his time at The UWI, he wrote over 250 news stories and columns that tackled thorny issues or proposed solutions to pressing problems in society. In 2019, while in his first year at university, he was the recipient of the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) Morris Cargill Award for Opinion Journalism at age 19. He has been shortlisted for this award and the Young Journalist of the Year Award each year since then. Moreover, he was the winner of the Chancellor Hall’s essay competition in 2020 and the Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority Essay Competition in 2021. This year, he presented at the West Indies Economic Conference hosted by The UWI Department of Economics and Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) Young Scholars Dialogue.

Due to his efforts to re-launch the Jamaica Prefects’ Association, David was awarded the Prime Minister National Youth Award for Nation Building in November 2019. Since then, he served as Surrey County coordinator for the National Youth Parliament of Jamaica in 2020, ending his tenure as Prime Minister for the eleventh staging of the sitting. Throughout his tenure, over 880 young people benefitted from the online seminar series the county hosted. He also facilitated the donation of 1,350 textbooks to five (5) high schools in St. Thomas and Portland. David is the founder of the New Jamaica Foundation (NJF), which is an organization whose mandate is to promote youth development. Over the years, the NJF has hosted numerous workshops, planned donations and hosted exam revision sessions for hundreds of secondary school students. For his academic performance and community involvement, David received the Governor-General Achievement Award for the parish of St. Andrew in 2021.

He is always eager to make his contribution to national development. Since January 2021, he has served as the Regulations and Certification Committee Chairman of the board of the Early Childhood Commission (ECC). In this position, he successfully advocated for the declaration of the Year of Early Childhood Development which was made by Proclamation by Governor General, Sir Patrick Allen in January 2022. During his tenure, the number of delinquent early childhood institutions fell dramatically from 140 in February 2021 to 54 in August 2022. His committee also published the inaugural Assessment Report of Early Childhood Institutions in March 2022, which provides the inspection scores of all ECIs throughout Jamaica.

David is currently pursuing a Master of Philosophy degree in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge after receiving the HRH Prince of Wales Scholarship.