The Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) again supported the Girl’s in ICT initiative on April 23, 2015 by hosting fifteen (15) female high school students between the ages of 15 and 18, and their teachers, at its offices located at 13-19 Harbour Street, Kingston, Jamaica.  The students represented local high schools, namely Convent of Mercy Alpha Academy, St. Hugh’s High School for Girls and Vauxhall High School. 

The event was designed to give students the opportunity to meet with members of the SMA’s engineering team and to discover more about ICT and in particular telecommunications engineering.  The day’s activities included a career talk by Judy Anderson, Manager, Operating Systems & Special Projects, Mahlangu Lawson, Telecommunications Engineer and Cheyenne Powell, a former SMA summer intern.  

The day ended with the girls participating in a ‘Fox Hunt’, an activity where a radio transmitter was deliberately hidden in the Emancipation Park.  The girls used a special hand-held device to locate the transmitter.

The SMA is the national regulator of the Radio Frequency Spectrum on behalf of the Government of Jamaica and as such is an advisor to the Minister with principal responsibility for telecommunications.  It is an agency of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining.  Its’ mission is to ensure the efficient management of Jamaica’s frequency spectrum in keeping with international best practices and in the interest of social, economic and technological development.