Ajhaunii Simms secures scholarship to Old Harbour High

Indeed, that’s how Candice Simms and her husband Omroy are feeling at this time since the eldest of their three boys, Ajhaunii, did impressively well in the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) national exams.

The Davis Primary graduate logged a placement score of 376.7 or 94% which earned him a one-year scholarship at Old Harbour High School courtesy of the Old Harbour Baptist Church where his parents are members.

“It feels good,” said the 11-year-old who loves to play different sport and aspires becoming a professional athlete.

“I felt excited, overwhelmed, overjoyed,” beamed the Davis Primary top male student, while admitting he found some of the papers to be quite challenging.

From a tender age Ajhaunii showed signs of academic brilliance, hence this outcome was not a surprise. But the sacrifice his parents had to put in is what made this achievement so very special and worth celebrating for as long as possible.

“I must give all glory to God,” said a proud mother, Candice. “I feel fulfilled, like all of my energy not going to waste, all of the money invested not going to waste. With this year we had to put in extra lessons. I have been made redundant; my position was made redundant from March 2020 so I have not been working. It is my husband alone with all five of us. And sometimes even to find the money to pay for the taxi, for him to do extra lessons, sometimes we don’t know where it’s coming from but God has provided. So I’m happy now that the sacrifice that we have made, we are getting the fruits from it,” said the former research assistant at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.

This batch of grade six school leavers had the unenviable distinction of having to study during the two years of the coronavirus pandemic, which disrupted the general mode of learning from face-to-face to virtual classroom.

“It was not difficult but it was not easy either,” Ajhaunii said of the experience of adapting to school life during the pandemic.

It was frustrating for a very energetic boy like him.

“We had to put on mask, we had to sanitize and we weren’t allowed to go on the playfield,” he said, before mom Candice chimed in “he loves to play and this reduced the interaction”.

Outside of school Mrs Simms said her son is very active in church, where he sings on the children’s choir and participate in just about everything else on offer.

“I expose him as much to everything, the dynamics of life,” she said.

And with such good qualities being instilled into Ajhaunii, a future leader has started to emerge. Ajhaunii is “very responsible” when it comes to his duties, which include looking out for his little brothers aged 10 and 17 months old.

“There are times when I’m at church and I’m on the choir and I leave them down there (in the congregation) with the baby and people will come tell me how they’re very responsible and he’s very caring and loving. So he’s a little husband in training,” she chuckled gleefully.

Even so Candice says she and her husband avoid placing any high expectation on the shoulders of their first born.

“I just want them to do well,” she tells Old Harbour News. “I try to push them, but in terms of me wanting him to be a doctor or me want him to be an engineer I don’t put that pressure on them. I allow them and whatever I see that they are good in I try to encourage him in those areas. “I just want them to do well in whatever they do,” she added.

“What I try to teach them that even with me coming out of corporate, I’m showing them that anything can happen at any time and the faster you can adjust to changes is the higher your survival rate. You can’t be too remorseful and keep looking back; you have to find ways to move forward.

Ajhaunii is already getting himself oriented with his high school environment as he’s attending summer school there and creating new friendships. Over the years, Old Harbour High School has risen to national prominence in all aspects, which factored heavily for the Old Harbour Glades family.

“I have been watching the school and I have been impressed with their growth and the leadership is very admirable. So those are some of the factors we use to make the decision,” Candice explained.

She added: “We had committed in our minds that if they put him somewhere else we are going to ask for a transfer anyways to bring him at Old Harbour High. So the placement for me was not a shocker, the grades are what I’m very impressed with.”

It is expected that Ajhaunii will continue to progress on this path given the solid foundation build by his parents. He’s being prepared to take greater responsibility now as he acquaints himself within a new environment.

“It’s kind of nerve-racking because you wonder if he’s going to come home but I try to teach him how to be streetwise and how to navigate the world because we cannot grow them in a bubble. So I’m more the cheerleader, the supporter pushing him out there to be great,” she said.

With this kind of parenting the world may one day hear of a young man by the name of Ajhaunii Simms doing great things not just his community or country but indeed the universe.