EVERY once in while we come across those people who disprove some of the stereotypes that many of us have come to adopt; Andre Hendricks is one of them. The 18-year-old Munro College student has defied the “dumb jock” stereotype by copping not one, but two scholarships from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Hendricks has been awarded the coveted R A Murray Scholarship as well as a sports scholarship from the institution. The former guarantees the St Elizabeth native US$22,000 per year on the condition that he maintains a 2.0 grade point average and obtains 18 credits each year. Hendricks is guaranteed a further US$2,000 once he becomes a part of the track and field programme at the university. Still leaves a US$7,000 gap for him to fill, but these two scholarships will go a far way in helping his parents finance his tertiary education.

Hendricks is the silver medallist in shot put at the Jamaica Junior championships, and bronze medallist in the discus in the same year. He took last year off his track career to focus on his exams, but was among the top throwers at the ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Championships the previous year.

At school, he is also a prefect and a member of the 4-H, science, mathematics, and Interact clubs. He also volunteers at the health centre in his community.

He told the

Jamaica Observer that he became aware of the scholarships through his college counsellor at AIM Educational Services, Nicole McLaren-Campbell, who is also a Career & Education columnist. It was on her recommendation that he applied to Dalhousie, and once accepted, the admissions officer encouraged him to apply for the RA Murray Scholarship.

“After that, Nicole contacted me and said ‘congrats’. She said, ‘We got the academic scholarship, now it’s time to go for sports, and try to get as much money as you can from the school’. I contacted the coach and speaking to the coach over a period of time, he said that he wanted me as an athlete at the school, and offered me the $2,000,” he explained.

The R A Murray Scholarship was founded by Melda and Richard Murray, American nationals who migrated to Jamaica 10 years ago after Richard was offered a contract with engineering firm Alcan. Since then, they have stayed close to their adapted country, Richard working on various bridge and road building projects here, for example. The scholarship is offered each year to two Jamaicans who have been accepted to study engineering at Dalhousie University.

“Scholarships are something that they give to hard-working students. You can’t really ‘slack off’ and expect to get a scholarship. Getting a scholarship means that they have some interest in you; that you have shown something that not a lot of other people show. And once you showed hard work and dedication, they want to encourage you on your hard work,” he told

Career & Education.

He admitted that being a student athlete, prefect and a member of other clubs and societies made it difficult, but said time management was the key.

“I had to have good time management because of the [involvement in] sports and academics and extra-curricular activities,” he said.

He shared his major time management strategy:

“I had a schedule to help me manage my time. On a daily basis, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm I have classes. Then afterward I have training until about 7:00 pm or 6:00pm. And after that, my schedule would say that I go through the books or the subjects that I did that day to reinforce the knowledge, from about 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm.”

The young athlete, who describes himself as jovial and fun, said that it was Dalhousie’s renowned engineering programme that pulled him. In addition to his eight Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate subjects and six Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations units obtained with ones and twos, he scored an 1840 on the SATs and without attending formal SAT preparation classes.

“I got the book before summer, and reading the book I didn’t see any need to go to classes. I wanted to see how well I could do by myself. Plus, I didn’t hear of any classes nearby. I didn’t know about AIM at the time either,” he told Career & Education, adding that challenging himself helps him grow.

Hendricks credits his teachers, who would often spend long hours in their offices explaining concepts, Campbell, and his parents for guiding him to the right tertiary opportunities throughout the college application process. His advice to students seeking similar opportunities was simple.

“Find a goal and work toward it,” he said, noting that once you work hard, you can achieve it.