Grimble House pays tribute to GHS graduate

Her ability to inspire confidence and hope in those around her is one of the many reasons that Adora Lawrence is appreciated by her alma mater, the St Vincent Girls’ High School.

Lawrence, who graduated yesterday from the all-girl institution, was honoured for the contributions that she made to her sporting house, {{more}}Grimble (red house), during her five-year tenure at the school.

The Buccament resident was the house captain for Grimble and deputy head girl.

House mistress Jenel Lewis-McLean visited SEARCHLIGHT earlier this week to share some of the many contributions and sacrifices that the teenager made to the house.

“What stood out for me is that Adora could just come from a class, without break or without lunch, and there’s a 3,000-metre and 1,500-metre race that she has to run. You’ll say ‘Adora get ready to run, organize your team’ and she would, without hesitation, go and organize her team,” McLean said about the long distance runner.

McLean also highlighted Lawrence’s selflessness, by revealing that the teen gave up going on a much anticipated Social Sciences trip to Antigua and Barbuda in 2013, just so she could represent her schools in that year’s Inter-schools sports meet.

For her sacrifice, the daughter of James and Loura Lawrence earned herself the SOL award for the most rounded fourth former and GHS earned second place at that sporting event.

“When you see Adora on the field, you just have to be smiling,” the house mistress said. “We know that when Adora is running, we have a glimmer of hope.”

Among her many accolades, Lawrence, who is a member of the national swimming team, walked away from the 2014 GHS sports meet with the Victrix Ludorum and Senior Champion titles.

While studying for her CSEC examinations, the athlete took some time out of her schedule to compete in this year’s Inter-schools sports meet, where she placed third in the 1,500 metre race, anchored the 4×400 relay team to victory and won the 800 metre race, while breaking the previous record.

Her achievements have instilled pride not only in her house mistress, but in other house mistresses as well.

“Adora is an outstanding human being. As a student, she embodied traits of organization, perseverance and determination. These traits, she transferred to the field as an outstanding athlete for the Girls’ High School. Her athletic performance as a student embodied the spirit of her alma mater, excellence,”said La Toya DeRoche-John, a Staff (green house) house mistress.

Another Staff house mistress, Nicole McLean, stated that Lawrence is a “selfless hardworker, undaunted by any challenge. A small, yet explosive, Grimble package.”

When she spoke with SEARCHLIGHT, Lawrence revealed that it was sometimes stressful when her teammates did not want to participate in sports and that many persons seemed to be depending on her.

However, she declared that her experience was not one that she would ever give up.

“It was fun and a good experience. I’m glad that I kept it up and continued running in my five years, because it caused me to experience a lot that I might not have experienced if I didn’t,” she said.

Although she aspires to be a pilot, Lawrence expressed a desire to continue in the sporting arena and encouraged those that will come after her not to give up on their athletic talent.

“It’s not just about the academics alone. When you run, it actually helps you mentally. When combined with school work, it helps you to do better, because you have to learn to manage your time and manage your resources and it helps you in general. You get a lot of benefits when you try hard and you work hard, you get success in the end,” the athlete said.

Among a list of persons that she thanked for her achievements is her coach, Michael Ollivierre.

On behalf of the Grimble staff, McLean thanked Lawrence for her contribution to the house and wished her success in her future endeavours.