Campbell’s love for numbers puts her in Top 10

by Kobie Broomes

Never in a million years would 17-year-old Jasonia Campbell have expected to place in the top 10 in the Caribbean Examination Council’s Mathematics exam.

Campbell, a former student of The Alexandra School told Barbados TODAY she expected to get a grade one but this was a good surprise.

“My teacher contacted me from my old school and she asked me if I had known about this.

She showed me it [CXC results]…I was very shocked, I went to my mother, she was very happy and she always told me that I’m destined for greatness…Then afterwards,
I felt great.”

Campbell while thanking her teacher Ms Downes, and her immediate family members who constantly encouraged her said: “My mathematics teacher contacted me a few days ago and she was saying that I inspired her to do well to continue working with her students because children especially run away from mathematics. She said it gave her the inspiration to continue working with others.”

However, Campbell admitted that it wasn’t until the fourth form that she developed a love for the subject.

“While in fourth form when I started to do accounting, I liked accounting when I started the subject, I realised I like it so much and from then I decided you know what, maybe I should like mathematics as well… And from there I got my first 100 per cent in mathematics in the first term and I said this feels good and I continued to work and from there I developed a liking for mathematics. So it just came easy to me after that,”
she said.

The young talent explained that it wasn’t easy preparing for the exam during COVID-19 disruptions.

“At first when the pandemic hit it threw me off track because when you are preparing for exams, you don’t expect a pandemic to happen out of nowhere, so it caught me off guard at first. It made me lose motivation to even study because all the exams kept getting pushed back.”

However, Campbell said she pushed through. “The experience was great along the way. Growing up I was not the best mathematics student, but as time went by I put my best foot forward and then did what I had to do with the help of my aunt and teachers as well, and I got it done,” she said.

Currently, she is completing a diploma at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology and has been accepted into The University of the West Indies to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting.

kobiebroomes@barbadostoday.bb