17-y-o Kordell Clarke, our kind of girl

  From the Jamaica Observer, Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Nothing moves us more than the heroism of youth, especially if the context of that heroism had its genesis in exceptional circumstances and untold odds. As is the case of 17-year-old Kordell Clarke of Tivoli Gardens in depressed West Kingston.

Clarke, a lower sixth form student at Alpha Academy in Kingston, overcame a painful spine shaped like an "S" which made her the subject of mean jokes and name calling and the blaring of nightly dancehall music outside her door, to secure passes at 12 CXC subjects with seven distinctions and five two's.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding's pride at the achievement of his constituent has become the pride of the nation. For what Miss Clarke has done is to reassure Jamaica that its possibilities are still endless.

"It affected me, but I didn't allow it to control me," the teen told the Observer last week, a few days after Mr Golding brought her to the attention of the Parliament and her countrymen and women.

Miss Clarke's story could well have gone the way of the many others who, in similar circumstances, wilted under the unkindness and inconsideration of their fellow human beings. Not to mention having lost her father to cancer when she was only 10 years old, as well as a brother, also to cancer.

Wracked by painful scoliosis which caused her body to be bent, she faced the possibility of being crippled if she attempted to get the problem corrected through surgery.

But the young lady remained undaunted. With help from the Scotiabank, her Member of Parliament, her mother and friends who kept encouraging her and helped bear the burden of her bag and books, she had surgery that cut into her CXC study time, causing her to miss many sessions.

Of the distracting music from the street dances that invaded her study, she said: "I had to wait 'till 2:00 or 3:00 am when the tempo had changed and I learnt to soak in the information during the time spent in class and rely on that and use my common sense to push through my exams."

But with true resilience of the human spirit, Miss Clarke persevered. Now armed with a distinction in mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, English language, history, English literature and five passes including geography, French, principles of business and information technology, she has her sights set on a degree in actuarial science which she hopes to pursue at the University of the West Indies in 2010.

After all she has been through, she is still able to tell our reporter: "I try to make everyone around me feel special. I love to make persons laugh. I love to laugh. I'm very helpful and I love to see everyone succeed."

Far from the shrinking violet, she is games co-ordinator for the Sixth Form Association, a Key Club member, a netball enthusiast, in addition to a range of other things, and she trumpets confidently that the thought that keeps her going is: "The only way to achieve the possible is to reach beyond the impossible."

Kordell Clarke is our kind of girl. Our kind of Jamaican.

 CLASSES 89, 90 and 91 Give Back

I had the great pleasure (and absolute luck) this morning, February 9, 2009, to be a part of assembly at Alpha Academy.  Apart from the warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia I get everytime I visit the Alpha campus I was surprised as were the students to see none other than Tarrus Riley in concert as the student body celebrates BLACK HISTORY MONTH.  But before I get to the star of the morning. I enjoyed devotion led by student leaders which involved singing of several hymns, none of which were from my days at Alpha but of a more contemporary nature.  The singing was followed by dub poetry in patois, both dub poets included President Barack Obama in their repetoire of course.  The students were then treated to a surprise performance by Mr. Tarrus Riley, backed by Dean Fraser, who had the girls singing word for word his current hits including "She's Royal".

Then it was my turn and all the fear I felt from speaking in front of the student body was quadrupled as I had to follow Mr. Riley's performance. Anyway I got through it as best as I could, I even received some laughs from the students at my corny jokes.  But best of all I was honored to be able to present to Mr. Singh a check for $104,000 which were the proceeds from the reunion held in July 2008.  I was also able to present a plaque to Mr Reid (smoky) who is representative of the teachers who guided us through our years at Alpha. For my nerve wracking moments both Mr. Singh and Mr. Reid gave me a kiss on the cheek.