HAVING been someone who struggled with her own academics in her formative years, director of Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, Christelle Harris, is encouraging young people to embrace academic work even if it’s not something they are interested in.

Harris said she believes that by doing this, it will build their character and even assist them in the areas they are most interested in.

“No matter how nonsensical academic work seems, you have to do what you have to do. Trust that the academic work that you don’t want to, or you don’t feel like doing, trust that it plays a huge part in the foundation that it is laying for you as an individual,” Harris encouraged.

She continued: “Sometimes a math problem is not about the actual math problem, it is about who you become while you are trying to solve it. The studying thing is what will give you the foundation to do well in whatever it is that you choose to do, if you become passionate about something. And always do your best at whatever you are doing, apply yourself the best at whatever you are doing.”

Explaining that people today with an education tend to have “side hustles”, Harris said, “The side hustle is not necessarily because you want to chase paper. The side hustle often becomes successful because it’s what you’re passionate about.”

Additionally, she encouraged young people that while they are finding something that they are passionate about and working toward building that passion, they should not only focus on financial gains.

“Don’t be fooled into thinking that chasing money is going to bring you any satisfaction or fulfilment. The money is something that should come as a secondary reward. Your passion should not be determined by a paper chase,” Harris told Career & Education.

“Even if it does not pay a bill, and while pursuing your academia and applying yourself the best way that you can, always keep that passion in a special part of you. You [should] always be thinking about your next step.”

Drawing from her own experience, Harris, who is also the director of both the Hampden Estate Rum and Liguanea Lane Pharmacy, said she did not discover her passion for dancing until she was 16 years old, and she is not using it to make money. However, the person she became while learning to dance, according to Harris, has helped in the different aspects of her life.

“Most people, they are passionate about what they usually start from when they are [young], but I didn’t. I was very frustrated for most of my teenage years because I didn’t have a passion. I never had any one thing that moved me, I was interested in a lot of things, but I never had that one thing that moved me. Did that get me anywhere, in the sense that do I do dance now? No. Did I ever make a dollar dancing? No. But my experiences that I went through in trying to pursue that passion brought so much value to my life that I am seeing now,” Harris explained.