Western Bureau: Dr Luz Longworth, the senior corporate director at Sandals Corporate University, has described excellence as a choice that people should make when they decide to serve others. “Excellence is not an accident. Excellence is a choice, especially when we choose to serve others,” Longworth told attendees at the recent 2026 Hanover Charities Annual Grant Ceremony, which saw 230 students, and 39 community organisations receiving scholarships and grant awards totalling J$277 million towards education.Using the passage of Hurricane Melissa, which devastated the island last October, Longworth said the Hanover Charities could have chosen several different pathways for engagement, but it chose a path of excellence, by assisting needy families across the parish in more ways than one, highlighting the excellent work to help students attain their educational goals.According to her, the Hanover Charities is presenting hope and dignity to persons who might otherwise have been forgotten.  “Consider this J$277 million in projects, grants and donations in a single year, going to over 500 students for the upcoming academic year, that is not charity, that is nation building, that is excellence in service,” she said.Longworth told the beneficiary students that the scholarships they are receiving are not just a reward for their hard work, but a show that someone believes in them.“Someone believes that the future teacher, nurse, entrepreneur or leader in you will shape Jamaica,” she said. “So, remember this, your success will not be measured only by what you achieve, but by how many people are better off because you lived.”She also encouraged the beneficiaries to strive to be the best they can be by going beyond expectations, as excellence lives in the extra effort. While titles will fade, she added, impact is lasting.Longworth described the work of The Hanover Charities as not just responding to crises, but the building of the future through the support it provides.She argued that the 69-year-old organisation is not just changing lives through its work across the parish of Hanover but also changing the future of Jamaica.editorial@gleanerjm.com