Annay Wheatle – A ‘most outstanding’ graduate of Norman Manley Law School

Her insatiable thirst for knowledge and ‘the need to know’ had not compelled her to pursue a degree in journalism which some might say was the obvious choice.

Even though Annay Wheatle had been accepted into the journalism programme at The University of the West Indies’ Caribbean School of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), she chose to pursue her first passion – the study of law.

This was born from her curiosity in the world and was deeply rooted in her intense desire for an understanding of what the law was about.

Wheatle, a recent graduate of the Norman Manley Law School, was awarded the most outstanding student over the programme’s two-year duration.

The 24-year-old comes from the rural community of Blenheim in Manchester where she had a humble upbringing. She was raised in an extended family with her parents, grandparents, and three older siblings.

Coming from a family of farmers and not having much while growing up, Wheatle was more than grateful for their efforts in making life in Manchester as comfortable as possible.

“It was a good home that instilled the values of working hard, believing in God [and] giving it your best and even where if you fail, you try again,” she said.

In a recent interview with The Gleaner, she revealled that her desire to achieve academic success started from as early as basic school and would only continue to grow stronger as she transitioned to Bethabara Primary School.

By the time Wheatle matriculated to Manchester High School, she had grown into an unstoppable force that was determined to accomplish all the things she desired out of life.

She stated that throughout primary and secondary school, she enjoyed learning about the arts and science subjects, and although she was not very fond of mathematics, despite doing well at it, all subject areas were of interest to her as there was none that she hated doing.

“To be in the know”

Wheatle began studying law in sixth form and sat the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations law units one and two.

She explained that her desire “to be in the know” was what first sparked her interest for the law.

Stemming from mundane things like, the reason for not driving on a particular side of the road or in instances where a person’s response to something stated would be ‘that’s the law’ had caused her to question “what is this law thing, [and] why is it telling me what to do”, she said, chuckling at her younger self’s reasoning.

“But then, [after] actually understanding what it was (later on in life), and getting into it, I realised that this is what I’m meant to do,” she continued.

After completing high school, the ‘country girl’ ventured to ‘town’ in search of better opportunities.

Like many others holding lofty ambitions, Wheatle’s biggest obstacle to overcome was her inability to afford tertiary education in Jamaica.

But she never took anything in life for granted as she believes that she was destined for greatness and wished to prove this to the world.

“Ever since I was small, my mother would always tell me that God favours me and I do believe that I am favoured by God and not in a bragging way, but I strongly believe that I have purpose and there’s something that I’m meant to do with the capacity for knowledge and excellence that I have,” she said.

First-class honours

Wheatle, who had eventually graduate from the University of Technology (UTech) with first-class honours, and who was also awarded the president’s pin, had to take student loans to obtain tertiary education.

“I was always one of those persons who was always looking for scholarships, grants, bursaries, part-time work, whatever it was to get me through. And it was a combination of all those things ... to put together to get me through to school,” she explained.

As she battled with these difficulties, more financial challenges arose when she decided to enrol at Norman Manley Law School with hopes of one day becoming an attorney.

Wheatle, as a result, made an appeal to Jamaicans to ‘take a chance’ on her as she reached out to them through a GoFundMe page in her first year, to obtain donations to help fund her enrolment in law school.

“I was able to cover my school fee for that year and so that financial burden was lifted for the first year, but it’s a two-year programme so then I got to the second year, and I still didn’t know how I was going to make it through,” she said.

As such, Wheatle went back to the Students Loan Bureau (SLB) to fund her final year. She also received various scholarships and bursaries to assist.

Wheatle had to juggle her full-time job and studies at Norman Manley Law School, where she graduated with 15 accolades.

She added that her employer was very accommodating and had given her the flexibility she needed to work and attend school.

“Balancing that, it took time but once you’ve mastered it then you’re good and it was a system of prioritising. There were certain roles that I had to step back from, there were certain things that I would normally be involved in but I couldn’t at that time and I kept reminding myself that it’s not forever, it’s just to make it to the finish line,” she explained.

She anticipated that although law school would be challenging, it wouldn’t be unmanageably so and this held true.

Wheatle also enjoyed interacting with individuals from different cultural backgrounds, judges, attorneys and other law practitioners.

“It was all that I thought it would be and more and there were difficult parts of it – not understanding the material or just being overwhelmed with the amount of time that you’re at school. It’s as if you live there at some point [but] that prepares you for practice, for what is going to be in the day-to-day life as an attorney-at-law which I’m looking forward to,” she said.

Although she is not against any area of legal specialty, she is most interested in commercial and civil litigation.

Eventually, Wheatle who now works as a law clerk in a Kingston-based firm, hopes to practise public international law as she aspires to one day work at the United Nations (UN).

Her intrinsic hunger for success and her desire to one day make her family, community, and eventually her country proud are her greatest sources of motivation.

“Knowledge is really power. To be in the know and to understand what’s going on in the world, whether it be something big or small, it really helps you to be a rounded person, it helps you to make decisions not only for now but those that will affect you in the future, it helps you to build your foundation as a person – no one wants to be one-dimensional, and if you think about something that is 3D, then it has several aspects to it,” she said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com