Rhodes Scholar leads rainwater harvesting project in Hanover

Tiana Dinham, Jamaica’s 2026 Rhodes Scholar, has turned her long-standing focus on water security into a practical intervention: a rainwater-harvesting scheme in rural Hanover that trains residents in safe collection and treatment and equips schools that rely heavily on rainwater.

Through her Rainwater Initiative for Sustainability and Empowerment (RISE), launched in 2025, she raised more than $300,000 to expand water access and improve water quality across the parish.

Her work has drawn commendation from Governor General Patrick Allen, who said her “long-standing dedication” to clean water “stands as a testament to her deep commitment to people’s well-being and sustainable development”. He described her record as a “seamless progression from passion to purpose”, aligning both with the Rhodes tradition and with the ethos of a Governor-General’s Achievement Award (GGAA) recipient.

He added that Dinham’s trajectory signals the potential for lasting impact in Hanover and across Jamaica, noting that academic excellence, anchored in community service, can be “harnessed to address critical national and global challenges”.

Allen also pointed to the symbolism of two generations of the family – Dinham in 2023 and her mother, Andria Dehaney Watson, in 2011 – receiving the GGAA, reflecting what he called “a deeply rooted commitment … to nation-building”.

BUILDING WATER RESILIENCE

Under RISE, Dinham partnered with the Hanover Health Department to train residents in safe water collection and treatment, with plans for the knowledge to be shared across wider communities.

“We were also able to donate three chlorine residue comparators to three rural primary schools that depend heavily on rainwater harvesting, because one of the biggest problems that rural schools are experiencing is that they don’t know if the water that they’re buying from the water truck is sufficiently chlorinated to be used for drinking purposes and cooking purposes in their schools,” she said.

After Hurricane Melissa swept across the island on October 28 last year, she mobilised educational supplies for her former primary school.

Dinham sees the Rhodes Scholarship as “a great honour, to not just represent myself and my family, but my parish, my high school, my primary school”. It will fund postgraduate studies in Water Science, Policy and Management at Oxford University.

She described the achievement as an “empowerment factor” inspiring her to help others live “a better and more fulfilling life”.

Dinham’s academic promise emerged early. At Maryland All-Age School (now Maryland Primary and Infant School), she received the Elan Beckford Award for outstanding all-round performance and was the top GSAT student in mathematics, social studies and science.

At Mount Alvernia High School, she spent all seven years on the Gold Honour Roll, served as head girl and valedictorian, and earned top awards in pure mathematics, biology, chemistry and Caribbean Studies, as well as the Principal’s Award for best-overall student in grade 11. She secured 12 grade ones in CSEC and eight distinctions in CAPE.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she was a Robertson Scholar, earning an elite merit scholarship enabling dual enrolment at UNC and Duke University. She has made the Dean’s List every semester, is part of the Honors Carolina programme, and is a Hayden B. Renwick Scholar for maintaining a GPA above 3.8. She also belongs to Phi Beta Kappa, the United States’ oldest academic honour society.

“If I could dedicate these awards to anyone, I would dedicate it to my family, but especially my mom and my dad,” she said. “They have made a lot of sacrifices in their lives to ensure that I could dream big and dream broad.”

Dinham hopes her journey will encourage other young people to see the value of service. She wants them to view her as “someone that sees a good in the world through the ugly, someone that believes that community development is a key for a more sustainable future, where we care about not just ourselves, but the people around us”.

Community leaders also speak of her continued local engagement. Tickaya Pinnock, vice president of the Maryland Community Development Committee, said Dinham has long contributed to cultural programmes, including sponsoring the annual Mini Miss Maryland competition.

“That little rural country girl has put Maryland on the map again, has placed Hanover on the map,” she said, urging support for the RISE project. “Give her as much support as you can, because she is trying to change a situation that has been in Maryland for many years, that has been in Hanover and rural communities for many years.”