GoodHeart | Changemakers honoured at PM Youth Awards
Published:Saturday | June 7, 2025 | 12:10 AMOâbrian Wynter/ Gleaner Writer
Three powerhouse initiatives stood out at the recent Prime Minister’s National Youth Awards for Excellence not for fanfare, but for their transformative impact on Jamaica’s social and environmental landscape. Khalia Hall, Treya Ann Picking, and the Angelic Ladies Society were honoured for their work in environmental protection and youth development, highlighting how meaningful change often begins with committed individuals and bold ideas.
Khalia Hall could hardly contain her excitement as she stepped off the stage after receiving her award.
“It feels great, not just for me, but for all the nominees here. I’m still in awe at the talent of Jamaican youth. It’s great to highlight the positive things that the youth are putting out into the world, it’s so important. I’m feeling very grateful,” she told GoodHeart.
For this environmentalist and sustainability advocate, true change doesn’t start with cleanups, it begins with consciousness.
“A lot of the work I do is with the foundation I work with, which is the Esirom Foundation, is on the Kingston Harbour. So, we have a project called KHERI (Kingston Harbor ECO-Restoration Initiative) where we not only clean the harbour of heavy items like fridges and stoves, but to also work with communities nearby to educate them on the pollution issue because we realise that cleanups are just a Band-Aid fix,” Hall said.
Hall and her team believe environmental action starts by breaking everyday habits. One of their key initiatives, the Bring Yuh Owna Tings campaign, encourages people to carry their own reusable utensils. It’s a small change that, practised daily, could cut down significantly on waste. But she isn’t stopping there. Her next project is a local recycling facility designed to process plastic waste into reusable products.
PROTECTING WILDLIFE
For Treya Ann Picking, building a relationship with wildlife comes naturally. As the founder of the JamCroc Initiative (Jamaica Crocodile Research, Outreach and Conservation), Picking is on a mission to change the narrative surrounding Jamaica’s crocodiles and other misunderstood reptiles.
“Not a lot of research has been done. And as a result, as part of my master’s and a part of my job, I spearheaded the first islandwide crocodile survey in Jamaica so we can figure out how the population is doing and basically implement the best strategies going forward to promote safe coexistence between people, wetlands and crocodiles. So I’m now running this independent initiative and also working for a big non-profit international NGO.”
On what makes her so fearless, Picking proudly smiled and answered that she always liked to be different.
“I don’t know. I mean, from when I was a little girl, I used to always pick up lizards and frogs. I was that person. And I’ve just always been a person who wanted to always make a change in some shape or form. And I’ve always liked to be different. So this makes me pretty different,” she said.
ANGELIC LADIES SOCIETY
The Angelic Ladies Society is on a mission to empower vulnerable and high-risk girls through life-skills training and advocacy. Founder and Executive Director Sara-Lou Morgan-Walker said the group has recently turned its focus to tackling sexual violence, building on its core work in youth empowerment.
“We’ve been having conversa-tions, particularly in the parish of St Thomas, about sexual violence with boys and girls across the six high schools in the parish. Currently we have two flagship initiatives – She Speaks and Echoes of Change.”
The Angelic Ladies Society’s She Speaks initiative collects firsthand data on sexual abuse, giving voice to girls who have never reported their experiences, paving the way for targeted empowerment and safe spaces. Meanwhile, the Echoes of Change programme engages young boys in candid conversations about consent, legality, and responsibility.
Motivation for the Angelic Ladies Society comes from experiencing real impact.
“When you leave a session and you hear young men saying that they understand what consent is now, they understand how they get in trouble when they’re forcing a girl into sexual activities, they understand manipulation, that motivates us to continue to spread knowledge. When you hear these young men repeating the laws, you know that something resonated with them.”
The goal is to expand this initiative beyond St Thomas to the wider region.
“We’re hoping to go to Region 2, which will include St Thomas, Portland, and St Mary, and hopefully we can develop a pilot where there is something that we can present to the table of the persons who will be able to make this a national initiative,” Morgan-Walker said