Kingston - JAAP

Kingston Chapter

In 1969 Joan Aarons, then Principal of Alpha Business College invited Jean Cole {Secretary of the Year – 1969 for the Miami Chapter of the National Secretaries Association, now International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP)}, to visit Jamaica. Her visit was a success. As a result, the enthusiastic Mrs. Aarons was joined by Carmen DeCasseres, then Managing Director of Manpower (Jamaica) Limited, and Alice Cecere, then Principal of Duffs Business College, in spearheading the formation of the Association.

The Jamaica Secretaries Association was founded in Kingston on October 4, 1969 with thirteen members. Carmen Chen, now an honorary member, served as the first president of the Chapter from 1969 to 1971.

Membership

The Kingston Chapter currently has sixty-one (61) full members, has six (6) Life Members and eleven (11) Honorary Members, one of whom is, Mrs. Inez Blake, the first person in Jamaica to receive the Certified Professional Secretaries designation. As a trailblazer, the Chapter had the honour of inducting the first male member of the Association, in February 2016.

In recognition of her contribution, dedication and continued commitment to taking the Association to a qualitatively new level of professionalism, the Association conferred the citation of Lifetime Achievement on Clover Allen Wilson a distinguished past president of the Chapter.

Awards & Accomplishments

Since the inception of the All Island Administrative (APOTY) and Boss of the Year Competitions (BOTY) in 1971, the Chapter has had forty-seven Administrartive Professionals and Bosses, of whom twelve (12) have emerged as All Island Administrative Professionals of the Year and fourteen have emerged All Island Bosses of the Year. There has also been a number of participants being awarded Runner Up in each competition.

Of the six Chapters of the Association, the Kingston Chapter has the distinction of being awarded the Most Outstanding Chapter, the most times.

Civic Projects

For the last fifty years, the Chapter members have been deeply involved in the lives of the children at the Bustamente Children’s Hospital, the Glenhope Place of Safety, Walkers Place of Safety, SOS Children’s Village, Stony Hill, and the Lincoln Early Childhood Education Centre.

Regular visits are made to the organizations, especially at Christmas and during Administrative Professionals Week. Counseling sessions are held for both housemothers and the wards at the Homes through the year. Regular donations of food, clothing, school supplies, and other items have been made to these charities. The Chapter was integral in assisting the Glenhope Place of Safety with the purchase of building materials for the expansion of the dormitories and additional bathrooms.

The St. Monica’s Home for the Aged at Whitemarl in St. Catherine was added to the roster of activities for the Chapter’s 35th anniversary celebrations. The Chapter fed the homeless in the Cross Roads area for a number of years until the activity was regulated by the government. The feeding activity is now done in collaboration with the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation at various locations in the city. For the 50th Anniversary of Chapter, the Golden Age Home in Vineyard Town was identified as the legacy project.

Training and Education

The Chapter hosts a number of educational activities on a regular basis. Members and non-members of the Association have benefited from these programmes. These include workshops and seminars for future secretaries and persons pursuing the Certified Professional Secretaries/Certified Administrative Professionals examinations.

The main educational event hosted by the Chapter is the Annual Education Seminar which is usually held in February. This one-day event covers a variety of topics and is usually well attended by administrative professionals in the corporate area and surrounding parishes. Developmental workshops are also held throughout the year on various topics.

In its continuing effort to uplift the profession, the Chapter in 1977 awarded its first scholarship to a student to pursue the secretarial course at Alpha Business College. Many other scholarships have been awarded since then.