PROUD OF THEM: Janelle Syms, 19, - West Bay - Academics

Janelle is highly respected by her peers, family and community. Janelle displays a loving and kind character. She encourages and supports all who come in contact with her. She has always excelled in academics from the early stages of primary school at Sir John A. Cumber Primary in West Bay where she graduated as top student.

Janelle is a 2015 graduate from the John Gray High School. At graduation she received many accolades and awards which included: Best report, which led to her receiving the Ernst and Young Award for Academic Excellence (recognising her attaining a final total of 11 ‘O’ level equivalent passes including 10 – 1’s and 1-B, Level 2 Diploma with High Honors, recognition as valedictorian and being made head girl for her graduating year.

During high school Janelle was president of the school’s Focus Christian Fellowship Club and she also participated in the Cayman Islands Youth Parliament as Minister of Financial Services, Commerce & Environment. Janelle was a Cayman Islands youth ambassador at the Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC) in New York and Washington, DC. She was also selected to represent the Cayman Islands at the 2013 Next Generation Leadership Awards in Canada for Junior Achievement.

Janelle is a 2017 graduate from the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI) where she graduated with a 4.0 GPA and obtained an associates of arts degree (with Honours) in primary education. Whilst at UCCI she was on both the Presidents' and Deans' Lists twice. Janelle was also selected as a substitute teacher at UCCI during the Spring 2016 semester, where she was responsible for the supervision of a Spanish lab for mature students.

Thanks to a Government scholarship and partial funding from the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), she is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in early childhood and education at Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool, UK.

She is a member of the Afro Caribbean Student Society and the student course representative for her early childhood seminar group.