SHANTELLE KEEPS OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
(At graduation)
The top CSEC performer this year for Annotto Bay High School, St Mary, has been recognized for her excellence.
Shantelle Williams was recognized in October by the National Child Month Committee, at a ceremony in Kingston where outstanding students from rural area schools were celebrated.
As part of the prizes for Shantelle Williams, JN has opened a bank account for her, she received a cheque for fifteen thousand dollars, a gift basket, and a plaque.
Shantelle was also awarded at the parish level where she got twenty thousand dollars and school stationery from The Cawayne Barton Foundation, in September.
Shantelle is in sixth form now at the institution after acing 9 subjects.
At graduation, she was celebrated as the top student, top girl, and top performer in Chemistry, Physics, Agricultural Science and Information Technology. She was one of the Valedictorians.
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES
Her successes have come with a lot of determination and hard work to overcome obstacles, for this young girl from Bottom Leinster, a small rural community in the parish.
She says there were often financial issues that got in the way. Shantelle is the third to last of nine children for her parents and her mother was not able to help as much as she would have liked, because she was ill. Shantelle thanks her step-father for doing what he could.
To make it from home to school, she had to take three taxis home to school at a cost of $270 one way, or $540 each day. That too was difficult in many ways. But she was determined to get to school and do well.
The financial difficulties extended even down to paying for the subjects she wanted to sit in the CSEC last May/June. On that occasion, as with so many issues, help for Shantelle came from the school, through its Guidance Department.
Says guidance counsellor Sharma Knight: “I was so proud to see her being recognized at the National level. Shantelle has overcome many obstacles up to this point.”
(In Kingston)
She has also had support from the Bottom Leinster Seventh Day Adventist Church when she needed a laptop to help with her studies. Shantelle remembers that she made the effort to go on YouTube tutorials to assist with her exam preparation for Spanish. She did this because there was a clash on her timetable so she was not able to attend the Spanish classes at school.
Shantelle’s dream of having her name on the Top Student trophy became a reality.
She is preparing herself mentally for her CAPE examinations and hopes that she can improve her grades, complete grade 13 and matriculate to the University of the West Indies to study medicine. She is working hard too as a member of the Annotto Bay High School Schools’ Challenge Team
Her advice to students, especially girls facing financial and other difficulties at school is to attend school with the mindset and purpose of working towards their goal to have a brighter future. “Obstacles will come, to overcome this you can and must seek assistance.”
Go to the North Coast Times YouTube Channel to see her video in the latest newscast (#27)
Ingrid Henry contributed to this story
