“Yuh too pretty fi be rough” is a statement she often hears from her students when in disciplinary mode, but she says her no-nonsense approach to life is all part of her passion for transforming young minds and creating responsible citizens.

Born and raised in Clarksonville, St Ann, Rene Level told

All Woman that from a tender age she knew she wanted to impact the lives of her peers and others.

“In the community where I grew up, girls my age sought to become babymothers. My mother told me to get a good education, as it’s the only way out. I grew up a tomboy, played cricket, and never did the girly stuff. Instead I would gather kids in the community and start teaching them, have spell-off competitions, and if they didn’t want to play, I’d talk to the trees and try to impart my knowledge,” she said.

After leaving York Castle High, she spent a year at the Caribbean Aviation Centre before moving to Excelsior Community College. Level then decided that she wanted to extend her impact. She found a job at Rise Life Management where she voiced commercials and wrote plays before working with the GoGSAT website and inner-city children whom she helped prepare for examinations.

Within six months, Level was promoted to the post of project officer before becoming a programme assistant. She worked in juvenile facilities where she dealt with young people who had been involved in gambling and drugs. Shortly afterwards, she was promoted to project coordinator and worked on the HIV intervention programme, where she interacted with sex workers and others to promote healthier lifestyles.

But, according to Level, it was a conversation with a Metcalfe inmate that steered her on the path leading to her current position.

“He said to me, ‘you would impact lives more if you worked in a school or were stable there’. His words led me to really think about it. I went to the Cayman Islands in 2014 to do a presentation on enhancing students’ self-esteem and building self-awareness. The current Prime Minister was there and I shared that I’d like to work in the school system, maybe as a dean of discipline, and he encouraged me and said maybe one day I’d become just that,” she said.

In September of the same year, Level began what has now been a two-year journey as dean of discipline at Cumberland High School, an experience which she says has allowed her to impact and transform the lives of numerous young people.

“It’s a lot of work and it’s very challenging. I work closely with the police and try to keep up networking with teachers, parents, police and community members,” she said. “I introduced a life skills intervention programme at the school by looking at students who displayed maladaptive behaviours, and decided that instead of punishing them I would place them in the 12-week intervention programme from 2:30 pm to 3:30 each afternoon. In this programme, external persons would come and do presentations, and eventually the students were tested and a graduation was held. I also include prefects, student councillors and cadets in the programme so that when they are trained they can in turn train those they have responsibility for.”

The first and only female captain of the Dynamic Cadet Corps based in Clarendon and a doctoral candidate in transformational leadership at Bakke Graduate University in the United States, Level was instrumental in starting a cadet unit at Cumberland High, as part of her transformational vision for the school.

She has had a number of research papers on enhancing self-esteem and building self-awareness in youth, and she has had her work published in a book titled Transforming Learning: International Perspectives.

“No one can stop you. You are in control of your emotions. Nelson Mandela said that education is one of the most powerful tools an individual can use to change his or her life, and Marcus Garvey said, ‘Up, you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will’. I realised I could be what I wanted to be. You can be what you want to be. Reflect through positive thinking,” Level urged.