KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s 2025 Rhodes Scholar, Aundrene Cameron has described her journey from being the 2023 Miss Jamaica Festival Queen to becoming the recipient of the prestigious scholarship as a “beautiful transition”.

The 22-year-old, who proudly served as a cultural ambassador during her Festival Queen reign, now has the privilege of waving her flag of academic excellence even higher.

“I’m so humbled and I am so grateful for this opportunity,” she told JIS News in an interview at King’s House, shortly after the announcement on November 14.

She admitted that she never thought she could be a Rhodes Scholar, noting that, “it took a lot of courage.”

“A lot of persons pushed me and said ‘you have the potential to apply’. I couldn’t see it; but Rhodes Scholars have, for a long time, been such change makers and trailblazers in our country, and that is something that I want to be. That is a goal of mine and that inspired me to take the step forward, to see the opportunities that I can get to create a huge impact and to contribute to the criminal landscape in Jamaica,” Cameron said.

At the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom (UK), she will pursue a Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a Master of Philosophy in Law, with a specific focus on human trafficking.

The native of Spanish Town, St Catherine, said she wants to contribute to eliminating the scourge that impacts vulnerable young women.

“Growing up, I saw a lot of situations where women were sexually assaulted, they’re raped, they’re subjected to gender-based violence, and that has made me very scared. So seeing that around me, I really wanted to be able to contribute some level of change, and it’s the desire to see better and to create a safer Jamaica for women and girls that inspired me to focus on that area,” she explained.

Cameron’s Festival Queen national project, ‘Girls Who Fight Back’, was aimed at teaching young girls self defence.

She told JIS News that her parents instilled in her the idea of public service.

“It’s something that I grew up seeing – that level of care and commitment to country and to others. I give all credit to my parents for the amazing role models that they have been for me,” Cameron said.

The Rhodes Scholar told JIS News that her mother, Claudina Cameron, has been the greatest influence in her life, and was the first person she called to share the news.

Cameron could not contain her excitement when she was told.

“‘Yuh too lie! Sorry, I’m on speaker? Sorry, who’s hearing me? Oh my God! I’m so happy. Thank you Jesus,’” she exclaimed, as she screamed and clapped during the call.

Cameron was so eager to let others know that her daughter had been named Jamaica’s 2025 Rhodes Scholar.

“Send me [the information], so [that] I can start [to] send it out. I want to ‘first’ people before they see it in the news,” she said.

Reflecting on her earlier academic experiences at Ardenne High School and Campion College, Ms. Cameron shared that she earned 12 grade ones and three grade twos at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level.

She went on to ace six double units at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) level.

Aundrene graduated as Valedictorian from the University of the West Indies, Mona, with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours).

In 2024, she received the Governor-General’s Achievement Award in the 18-24 age category and is now in her second year of study at the Norman Manley Law School.

Cameron, who aspires to become a prosecutor, lives by the mantra: “A woman belongs in all places where decisions are being made”.

To potential Rhodes Scholarship applicants, she said: “If you believe that you have it in you to be a trailblazer, a change maker, somebody that can be a nation builder, and if you have that love for country and that love for service, go for it!

“I did not know that I would have been the Rhodes Scholar, and it took just a moment of courage for me to hit send on that application, and this happened. You never know where you’re going to end up. So the best thing that you can do, is put your foot forward and try,” Cameron stated.

–JIS