FOUR months before his Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams, Love-let Blake’s world was shattered. His mother, Christine Blake, died from a heart attack in February.

The 17-year-old St Jago High School student then found that academics became a much-needed distraction to bury his pain.

“I experienced the unexpected loss of my mom. This affected me a lot but, even so, I dove immediately into school life to try to give my mind something else to think about. I tried my best to be as strong as possible but, at times, I had to let myself feel the pain instead of ignoring it,” he told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

Blake, of Harkers Hall, St Catherine, passed mathematics, English language, English, physics, biology, chemistry and information technology with grade ones.

He got a grade two in English literature, music and French.

But in the weeks that followed his mother’s death Blake said preparation for the examinations was a huge challenge.

“Where I live, getting a fast and stable Internet service was not possible; I missed a colossal amount of classes because of connection problems. It was really hard to focus during this period as my environment was in no way tailored for learning. This had a mental toll on me but still, I decided to keep pushing forward. For Spanish, specifically, I didn’t want to continue doing it but I told myself that I had come too far to give up,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“Therefore, I asked my oldest brother for aid with Spanish and I had weekly classes with him. For all the other subjects, especially the ones I was the least comfortable with, I decided to spend more time on them. I went through the syllabi and watched numerous YouTube videos on topics that I did not understand. All my exams were one after another, which meant I had to be constantly studying,” he added, noting that he often allowed himself time to let his brain rest by “playing a game of Call of Duty“.

And then he noticed that the exams were creeping closer.

“CSEC was right around the corner and I knew that I had to give my best, even though I didn’t feel like it. I had to strive for excellence even when all hope of success was gone. I faced numerous challenges in preparation, as I was far behind on the syllabus due to the unforeseen pandemic,” he said.

When the time came for results to be released he initially told himself that he wouldn’t check until a day or two after they had been posted.

But seeing a lot of his friends posting on social media about their results, he was persuaded to check.

“My heart was racing. I was not at all confident in what I had done in the examination room, and seeing my results, I was shocked at the grades that I had got for some of the subjects,” Blake admitted.

In a weird way, he continued, there was no feeling of excitement.

“My heart stopped racing; and even though I had gone through so much this year, my mind did not allow me to feel happy. I was in some ways disappointed in myself as I did not achieve a goal that I had set for myself. In time, I got to realising that for the year I had been through, I had done exceptionally well, which then allowed me to feel happy and proud of myself for my achievements.”

Blake told the Sunday Observer that he pulled inspiration from many sources.

“I studied, I went through the syllabus, I watched countless videos on YouTube for different topics and, most importantly, I trusted God. In the end, God did come through for me. I completed 10 subjects in CSEC, and I passed all,” Blake related.

Throughout the same period, Blake participated in the Under-19 high school volleyball tournament in which the St Jago team was victorious.

He was selected to be a part of the Jamaica National Under-21 team that participated in the CASOVA volleyball competition in Trinidad & Tobago. The team placed third.

“All these achievements are due to God’s grace in my life, and my friends and family who never left my side. So to them, I am truly thankful. My family members have expressed how proud they are of the strides that I have made in education. This gives me the desire to continue doing well,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Blake attended Morris Hall Basic School for three years. He later went on to Sargeantville Primary School. Throughout his high school years he said his family struggled financially.

“I was brought up in a Christian household, with both parents playing an important role in my life along with five older siblings. As children, we were taught to make God the first priority of our lives. Even though we were poor our parents ensured that our basics needs were taken care of,” he recalled.

“At times when there was no money in the house, they would still send us to school with a note to give the teachers asking for lunch. I believe that I am blessed to be a part of this family because I consider all my siblings to be role models who have helped me not to drop my standards and to always strive for success.”

In grade six he was appointed head boy, and after the GSAT examination he was awarded top boy at Sargeantville. He was saddened, however, as he did not pass for his school of choice, St Jago. Nonetheless, he was eventually transferred.