11 year old Terrence Manu, a Grade 3 student at Goilanai Primary School in Alotau, Milne Bay Province is the pioneer recipient of the Mrs Joel Scholarship program worth K1,000.00 in school fee and stationary supplies. Mrs Joel Memorial Scholarship program is an initiative started this year by James Joel, the son of late Mrs Joel, a former teacher of Goilanai Primary who dedicated her entire life to teaching until her passing this year. "The scholarship program was introduced by myself to honour my late mun and is directly aimed at supporting unfortunate students of Goilanai Primary especially between grades 1-4, the classes that my mum taught," said Mr. James. Young Terrence's mother had heard about the scholarship initiative and had reached out to Mr James Joel to apply for the scholarship for her son. Terrence is the eldest of 3 siblings and had taken on the role as the man of the house when he, his mother, Maryanne Maso and his two younger siblings moved to Alotau at the age of 9. His mum had to leave her job in Port Moresby and moved her young family to Alotau due to personal reasons and they had no means of making an income but that didn’t stop him from excelling in school and helping his mum out at home. “What really moved me to apply for the scholarship was the act of great love of a son for his mother, caring on even after her death.” “When I applied, it wasn’t much of an application but more a sharing of how one son (a child) expresses his love for his mother in all aspects of his life (in character, academically) to another son (an adult) who's now honoring his mother's memory by blessing this child,” said Terrence Mother, Maryanne Maso. Mr James Joel came up with the idea of the scholarship to honour his late mother, who was a teacher at Goilanai Primary before she passed away recently. "It also gives me closure after losing my mum and so I decided to offer this scholarship as my way or remembering her and farewelling her as well," said Mr. Joel. “I received 10 applications from parents on behalf of their children.” “I chose Terrence because he has very good records; he is a high achiever, well behaved and helps his mum to make ends meet, said Mr James Joel.