Proactive approach

Wed, Aug 24th 2011, 01:03 PM

Jamia St. Clair Moss had an up close and personal account with how sickness affects a family.  She watched a friend and their family member suffer through dialysis treatments, before succumbing to death.  Because of the toll she saw it take on that family, Jamia, who always knew she wanted to study medicine, decided she wanted to try to do something about it and decided that her focus would be transplant surgery with a specialty in kidney surgery.

The rough period in that family's life, that helped her focus in on her decision about her life which Jamia wrote about, helped her win $140,000 in scholarship money and the title of All-Bahamas Merit Scholarship winner.  Coupled with the fact that she's smart -- she has a 3.93 cumulative grade point average, passed eight Bahamas General Certificates of Secondary Education (BGCSE) exams, all with A grades, scored 1,900 on her Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and is a well-rounded student who did volunteer work for a number of organizations, made her a shoe-in for the award. 

But with a humble attitude she says she knows a number of her peers who were just as deserving of the award.
"It was a great honor to receive this scholarship," said Jamia who is currently in Minnesota preparing for her first year of college at Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, where she will study Biochemistry and Hispanic Studies.  "I know a lot of other young Bahamians, very deserving ones were in the running too, a lot of them were my close friends, so I know exactly how much work it takes to get to that level, so it means quite a bit."

The scholarship money could not have come at a better time for the St. Augustine's College graduate, who had been awarded a half scholarship to the university.  She learned she had won the award five days before she was to leave the country for Minnesota.

"It's a great burden off my parents [James and Allyson Moss] actually, because I was offered almost half of the fees from the school, and my parents were still responsible with having to come up with about $26,000 per year, which is still a lot, because I want to do medicine and that's a lot of time in school, so winning was really good actually."
Students qualifying for consideration for the All-Bahamas Merit Scholarship Award have to have a very strong grade point average, write an essay between 1,000 to 2,000 words explaining their plans for their career and their goals, and they have to be well-rounded students who participated in volunteerism.

Jamia did volunteer work at the Nazareth Home for Abused Children, the Children's Emergency Hostel, Special Olympics, Doctors Hospital, the Bahamas National Trust and the Bahamas Humane Society.

She was also involved in the Governor General Youth Award Program (bronze and silver), and a member of her yearbook staff at her alma mater.  She was also a nominee for a global youth leadership conference, and a lector and commentator at St. Paul the Apostolic Catholic Church.  She received a first place in the Build-a-Bridge national team competition, and is a published author (There's a Monkey in the Refrigerator).

The All-Bahamas Merit Scholarship winner's advise to her peers who are looking to be given the award next year is to stay strong and study hard and to remember that it's not all about academics.  She advised them to get involved in other activities to and have fun doing so while they study hard.

For her undergraduate degree she's studying biochemistry and Hispanic studies.  The St. Augustine's College graduate's advise - Just stay strong and study hard, and remember that it's not all about academics and that they can get involved as well, and have some fun, and discover other things they like to do, but study hard too.  As for her worth ethic, she said it definitely comes from her parents.

"Academically in primary school it was easy stuff, but my parents really helped me to understand that to continue to do well you still have to study hard to do the best you can."
The teen chose to attend Saint Benedict and Saint John's University because of the history it represents in her family.  Both of her parents went there, so she says it meant a lot to her to be able to do the same.

Jamia was one 11 students that were recipients of more than $.5 million in scholarship money given out through the All-Bahamas Merit Scholar Award Program funded by the Lyford Cay Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Central Bank.

Nine other students received full scholarships to further their studies at universities in the People's Republic of China.  There were 10 national merit award recipients.  Each award covers four years of higher education.

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