One thought was foremost in Jadyn Francis’s mind as she participated in the Ministry of Education’s Outstanding Achievers’ Function last Friday.

“I thought about how grandma would feel. I know she would be very proud of me for pushing through that,” the 17-year-old lower sixth form student at Merl Grove High School told the Jamaica Observer.

The “that”, she referenced, was the painful loss of her grandmother, 59-year-old Valerie Ennis.

Ennis was the sole fatality in a collision between a minibus, in which she was a passenger, and a motor car on the Bog Walk Gorge on June 8, 2021. The force of the collision had pushed the Toyota Hiace bus off the road into the Rio Cobre, from which local divers pulled nine people, including Ennis.

The pride that Ennis would have felt was knowing that her granddaughter had aced her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations last year gaining Mathematics, English, Agricultural Science, Principles of Accounts, Biology, and Chemistry all at the grade 1 level; and geography and literature at grade 2.

“She would be broadcasting it right now and she would be very proud, and would be hugging me,” Francis said.

The results placed her first in Jamaica and third among the top 10 students on the Caribbean Examinations Council 2021 merit list for agricultural science.

Francis admitted that after her grandmother died she lost some enthusiasm to sit the exams.

“At first when I lost her, I did lose motivation, like three weeks before the exams. But I had the support of my family members and my teachers as well. So they really helped me to push through,” she said.

Her mother Elorine Smith couldn’t be more proud of her.

“She is my only child and she has always been an ‘A’ student. I know my mom would have been so proud of her. I prayed about it because our family is close-knit. My mom was so supportive of everything,” she told the Observer.

Smith explained that her mother’s funeral was deliberately held in August, after Francis completed her exams, to ensure she would focus on doing her best.

“My daughter doesn’t show emotions that easily, so I didn’t know what she was going through. I would always be concerned about what she was going through, so even with the exams going on and planning of the funeral, I still had to stay strong for her. But trust me, she showed a level of strength at that point. It was surprising, but she remained focused, even despite all that was happening,” she said.

Jadyn’s father, Mark Francis, described her as a go-getter.

“I am feeling really great. I am proud of her and I feel so happy. I couldn’t wait until she got home to hold her and show her a lot of love. Anything she puts her mind to, she will get it done. She is a great kid,” he said.

Her former Agricultural Science teacher, Nhashara Lewis Davis, was just as pleased.

“I had no doubt Jadyn would have performed the way she did. Jadyn’s work ethic, her diligence and everything about her was unmatched. We were still online when we were preparing for the exams and she would turn up for every class, she did not miss a beat,” Lewis Davis said.