Elgin Taylor, STAR Writer

Motivation is an essential ingredient of human endeavour responsible for our achievement of personal or organisational goals.

This matter was brought to the fore recently in an interview with Charmaine Helps, a business education teacher at St Catherine High School in Spanish Town. She believes the motivation of students is linked to gaining their trust and showing them you really care.

"As I walk into that classroom I see every student as my own personal, biological child. I want the best for them in life. I give them hardline stories and I give them success stories, so that they can see the difference and make the right choice. I genuinely care for them," she declared.

Her caring nature and ability to positively influence others were endorsed by colleague Norelle Phillips, who also pointed to Helps' positive effect on her daughter, Shauna, Jamaica high school and Carifta 100m track athletic champion.

Helps, who teaches management of business (MOB) and principles of business (POB) to students preparing for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination, pointed to other motivational strategies she employ in order to get the best results from students. She said, on a fairly regular basis, she invites resource business persons to speak on areas of the syllabus.

Pass rate

Her teaching style and grasp of learning styles of her students have enabled her to get the best out of them during examinations. She reported a pass rate of 100 per cent for MOB and 98 for POB.

She became a member of the school's staff on September 1, 1982 but left for four years to teach at Public School 328 in Brooklyn, New York.

She holds diplomas in agricultural science and mathematics from the Jamaica School of Agriculture and Mico College, as well as a bachelor's degree in management studies from the University of the West Indies and a master's in education from Touro College in New York, USA.

The country and the world is now going through a period of economic recession, but Helps still sees a relatively bright future for her business students.

"I see them coping with the recession. They have been taught self-sufficiency concepts. They display business-oriented tendencies, and, as Jamaicans, we know how to 'tun our hands and mek fashion,"she strongly stated.

Helps also explained the content covered in classes, for example, how to make business plans, should put them in good stead during this period of uncertainty. She said she sees good prospect for them as self-employed entrepreneurs.

She is married to Captain Hugh Helps and, in addition to Shauna, there are two other children, Charika and Tanesha.