This is the second in a new series telling the stories of Jamaicans who used education to overcome poverty.

BERNARD ‘Patrick’ Lee had a tough life growing up in three of Jamaica’s toughest inner-city communities — Majesty Gardens, Sufferers Heights, and Olympic Gardens.

It would have been easy for him to be sucked in by the constant violence to which he was exposed. But Lee, now 43 years old, refused to waste his life away.

Today, he is principal at a Canadian high school and thanks his maternal grandmother, Lurline Dwyer, who could not read or write, for constantly drilling into his head the thought that he could become ‘somebody’.

“I grew up in an inner-city area. I was surrounded by the violence and gun but I never became a part of it,” Lee told the Jamaica Observer.

“I went to a secondary school and lived in a community where there is stereotype and I hope this will cause others to recognise they can do it too, and know that with hard work they can achieve success,” he said.

Lee, who attended Dupont Primary on Olympic Way in Kingston, remembered exactly how he felt on learning he was not successful in the then Common Entrance Examination.

He said that when the exam results were published, the principal congratulated the children who had passed, but didn’t reassure those who didn’t.

“That created in my mind a recognition that I needed to get my act together,” Lee recalled.

He was registered at Haile Selassie Secondary School and almost immediately started redoubling his efforts with the encouragement of his grandmother who had high expectations for him and ensured he was not distracted by the environment in which he was being raised in Majesty Gardens.

“I used to sneak out to play ping pong ball and she would come to get me because she would say that she wanted me to be somebody,” he said of his late grandmother.

With money being tight from his grandmother’s job at a day care facility run by St Andrew Settlement, an outreach project at St Andrew Parish Church, Lee had to sell snacks to help fund his way through school.

“I created a stall in front of the settlement selling cookies and icy mint and this is how I got money to buy some things for school,” he explained.

His grandmother, who lived in a room at the settlement during the week and travelled to her home in Sufferers Heights some weekends, ensured that Lee was involved in church which afforded him well-needed exposure beyond his community.

“In Sunday School I would be in class with kids from other high schools and I realised that if I studied and worked hard I could do just like them,” Lee said.

He recalled the generosity of former Victoria Mutual Chief Executive Officer Douglas Cover who, having spoken to the outreach project director John Levy, offered to fund Lee’s attendance at an annual summer camp in Manchester where he got the opportunity to interact with children from other spheres of society.

“I thank Mr Cover because he could have avoided coming to Majesty Gardens, but he did, and because of that I was able to make a comparison about what I was going through and what I could become,” he said.

It was at these camps that Lee would be exposed to the other side of Jamaica, including class prejudice.

“One day I was in the dorm and we were discussing maths and I said that the sine of an angle is equal to the cosine of its complement, but because I was the only one who didn’t pass Common Entrance no one was giving me any attention,” he recalled.

Lee said the realisation hit him then that this was a society of winners and losers.

“It was then I started to gain a lot of confidence and I decided that all I needed to do was study and work hard,” he explained.

As he redoubled his efforts to excel, Lee, who became deputy head boy at Haile Selassie, recalled how the school’s caretaker would allow him and a friend to use the electric light at the school to study until the wee hours of the morning.

He graduated from Haile Selassie with six subjects and later sat and passed Mathematics with distinction at Maths Unlimited. He then applied and was accepted at Mico Teacher’s College but declined that offer when he got accepted into the teacher training diploma programme at the College of Arts, Science, and Technology (now University of Technology, Jamaica).

Amidst his joy, tragedy struck. Lee’s beloved grandmother died just as he was getting ready to graduate from school. But, as luck would have it, Cover had put aside $200,000 to fund Lee’s studies at university. This also made it possible for him to board with someone while in college.

On completing his diploma, Lee was accepted to do a degree in Business Administration at the University of Technology.

His first job was with Habitat for Humanity Jamaica overseeing the building of scores of houses. His job took him outside Jamaica to the United States, Canada, and Costa Rica.

On the encouragement of a Habitat board member, Lee said he sponsored himself to migrate to Canada in October 1999 to begin another chapter of his life.

But living in Canada was like starting all over again as he was forced to do various odd jobs to survive.

“The first year was rough working two to three different jobs all over the place. I came here with CA$10,000 and because rent is so expensive in Toronto I had to work seven days a week,” he explained.

From installing carpets to working in a factory making sprinkles for donuts, and selling door to door, Lee did it all. He recalled working the grave yard shift at UPS and having to wait for a ride to the subway home after work ended at 3:00 am.

“At one point I thought I would return to Jamaica, but I said ‘no, I won’t fail’. Growing up in the garrison I was used to failure, so I say I couldn’t go any lower, so I used that to motivate me,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Lee said it was then that he decided to get back into his first love of teaching, having had a successful stint during his practicum at Campion College and St Andrew Technical High School in Kingston.

His first stop was at an employment centre seeking advice on how he could enter the Canadian education system, but that was discouraging as he was advised to get training in Canada before he would be eligible.

Determined to get back into the profession, Lee said he decided to return to university. Fortunately, the first person he spoke to at the university he was interested in attending was a Trinidadian immigrant who informed him that he did not have to do another degree and pointed him in the direction he should go.

He submitted his documents to Ontario College of Teachers, the body which regulates the profession, and awaited a decision.

While still working at a carpet store, Lee applied for his first educator job as a computer science teacher. He recalled that the principal was so impressed with him during the interview that although he did not get that position she put him in contact with colleague administrators for him to get a job.

“By the time I got home from that interview I had several calls from different administrators,” he said.

While employed at East York Alternative High, Lee, who was the only black teacher, pursued a Master’s Degree in Maths and Statistics at York University.

He recalled having to work at night to get enough money to see himself through school.

“Every semester I had to go to the graduate office to negotiate another payment plan. I didn’t even get to walk across the stage because I owed them $5,000 at the time I was finished,” he said.

He has since taught at George S Henry Academy, West Toronto Collegiate Institute, East York Alternative High School and Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute (night school).

His administrative experience include working as vice-principal at Kipling Collegiate Institute, principal of Summer School at Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies, vice-principal (night school) at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute, and vice-principal Weston Collegiate Institute.

He has since been promoted to principal of Burnanthorpe Collegiate and Adult Learning Centre.

Lee said he owes his success to his grandmother, who had the confidence in him, and to people like Cover who bought into his grandmother’s dreams.

A former nominee for the Governor General’s Achievement Award and director of Fathers Incorporated, Lee said he is never afraid to tell his story and only hopes it will motivate others in similar situations.

Jamaica, he said, needs to create an education system where everyone gets the same start, because each individual is bright in their own way.

“In the ’80s when all the guns were firing I almost died. I remember a gun was pushed through the window in the little room where my grandmother had just had surgery on her mouth and I had to stay close to the wall to prevent the soldiers from shooting me, but I always said there has to be a better way and I found it,” he said.

Lee has been married 10 years to Tamara and has three children — Julia, AJ, and Paige.

Do you know anyone who has been able to break the cycle of poverty through education? Let us tell their stories and help to inspire others. Email browni@jamaicaobserver.com or call 876 564-1522