Jhenelle Small has never been one to shy away from leadership and advocating for the rights of others.

With that drive, the 22-year-old has always been eager to grab those opportunities as they come along.

Small has been selected as the youth speaker for this year’s National Leadership Prayer Breakfast (NLPB) which will be held on Thursday, at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

“To be honest, when I was told that I was chosen to be the speaker, I was very surprised. I really didn’t expect it but nonetheless, I am very grateful for the opportunity. I have the chance to inspire other persons and share advice, tips and motivation to youths just like me to succeed in life,” Small told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

Small recently completed her Bachelor of Laws degree at The University of the West Indies, Mona, where she was also the Faculty of Law valedictorian for 2021.

During her time at the university, she held several leadership positions including president of the Mona Law Society and representative of the Guild Faculty of Law.

Prior to that, she served as Region 4 assistant vice-president for the National Secondary Students’ Council (NSSC) while attending the Manning’s School in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, where she was also head girl.

“Leadership has always been a part of me, not necessarily just the position and building a resume. That was really what it meant to me. It’s about doing good and I would like to think I have been able to do that,” said Small who will be attending the Norman Manley Law School come September.

Small said she has always had a strong Christian faith in going after her goals and credits a higher power for her successes.

“To be very honest, nothing that I have done or accomplished would be without God. I consider every achievement as favours from God. He has allowed me to develop discipline, motivation and determination to get certain things done,’ she said.

“Growing up as a young Christian is hard with this world and everything involved but I believe that if one can understand Christianity and develop a love for it, not just on religion and what we think it is, but see Christianity as a lifestyle, then it becomes something easier,” she added.

The youth leader is looking forward to motivating other youngsters to be resilient at the prayer breakfast.

“We must remain hopeful, we must remain inspired and be determined to make new opportunities even if there aren’t any. I really just want an opportunity to be on a platform to inspire the youths of Jamaica and I am hopeful that I will be able to do so,” said Small.

The breakfast, first staged in January 1981, will be held this year under the theme ‘Pressing forward with faith, hope and love’ and will feature 130 specially invited guests at the Jamaica Pegasus. This is the second year that the NLPB will feature a youth speaker.

This is part of the plan by the organising committee of the NLPB to widen the reach of the annual initiative and forge a deeper engagement with the youth whom they wish to see becoming more actively engaged in righteous, productive and positive matters.

Addressing editors and reporters at the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange last week, Sheldon O’Connor, general secretary of the Students’ Christian Fellowship and Scripture Union, said even though the times have changed, the needs are still the same and there is now a concentrated effort to engage more youth through the more than four-decades-old breakfast.

“It is very relevant for young people. They are hopeless. They need the inspiration. Many of them are looking to leaders at a time when so many [leaders] have embarrassed themselves in national leadership.

“We are updating the way that we can get the message out to the young people using social media, using the different formats. Because of the pandemic, a lot of the young people have been able to connect in different ways. Technology has given us access to ways of connecting that we never knew before,” said O’Connor.