Nia-Ashley Harris sets sights on achieving greatness
Published:Monday | February 20, 2023 | 12:50 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Unlike many girls her age, Nia-Ashley Harris, winner of The Professor Wilma Bailey Award for the Most Outstanding Performance in geography in the May/June 2022 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, will boldly tell you she did her best because she has one resolve in life, and that is to get rich.
With that resolve in mind, Nia-Ashley spent the last five years of her academic pursuits as a student at St. Andrew High School for Girls, ensuring that she not only remained on the school’s honour role for years, but also joined numerous clubs.
The 17-year-old said the desire to get rich is one of the motivating factors behind her copping strictly distinctions in the 10 CSEC subjects: English language, English literature, mathematics, advance mathematics, Spanish, history, geography, biology, chemistry and physics, which she pursued last year.
“I don’t need anyone to come push me. I don’t know where the motivation comes from, but it’s just there, and I think because I have a track record at St. Andrew [High School for Girls] of being the top student of my year group every year, I think one motivation was maintaining that and the fear of failure, and also securing my future, because I want to be rich and happy,” Nia-Ashley told The Gleaner after she was awarded at the offices of the Ministry of Education and Youth.
“Those were things that I had manifested throughout my two-year CSEC journey. I wrote those things on paper, so I wrote that I wanted to get 10 ones. I wrote that I wanted to get national, regional placements and I taped them to my wall. Every morning, I’d get up and I’d say that to myself and ask God to help me achieve that, so it was really great to achieve that,” she said.
Nia-Ashley was also placed first in the island for Spanish, but sixth in the region; third in the island for English language, but fourth in the region; and third in the region for geography.
STORY TO TELL
When asked how she prepared for the exams, Nia-Ashley had a story to tell, by starting with how studying was “a form of self-torture”.
“There are periods when I did not sleep for 72 hours straight. I was just up studying. I also didn’t have an appetite, so I wasn’t eating well, the stress and everything was just extremely overwhelming. I lost 15 to 20 pounds during that period and my mom was extremely worried, and so, on the weekends when she didn’t have work, she’d bring a big plate of food into my room, which was basically a dark hole that I would stay in 24/7, she’d bring me breakfast and make sure I was eating,” she said.
The 17-year-old is elated to be among the best in the Caribbean.
“I’m feeling extremely grateful and validated about this award,” she told The Gleaner.
Her parents, Shelly-Ann Harris and Warren Harris, who were present to witness her collecting her award were also excited.
“I’m humbled and excited. When I was pregnant with Nia, the prayer I had was that God would give her the best talents and gifts of her father and myself, and I think God answered that prayer magnificently. She has the best of each of us and more, so today I am so proud. She’s a hard worker. She’s diligent. She is focused and she doesn’t take a lot of prodding. She does her own thing. She’s a testament that hard work [and] faith in God pays off,” her mom said.
His father said his daughter’s achievements are prayers that have been answered.
When asked what she hopes to become in the future, Nia-Ashley said that she is currently considering to choose one of two options. Those are to either become “an astronaut or someone who studies culture and languages, such as a linguist or a culture anthropologist”.
“Culture and language interests me and that kind of corresponds with me placing first in the island for Spanish, because I was very passionate about that subject,” Nia-Ashley said.
“I’m not entirely sure [what I want to become in the future and why], because I’m still trying to figure out what I’m passionate about and what inspires me, but I’m thinking of becoming the first Jamaican in space,” she said.