Se-Shauna Wheatle. A ‘little’ miss with big dreams
DON’T let her petite frame and quiet demeanour fool you. Se-Shauna Wheatle, the 2008 Jamaica Rhodes scholar, is a young woman with a big vision.
It’s a vision to develop the country’s legal system, particularly with respect to human rights and the protection of women and children.
“I’d like to see better protection in our laws for women and children. The laws we currently have, especially in the Offences Against the Person Act, to deal with these issues are inadequate. There’s been a bill in Parliament to amend (the Act) for about 10 years, so some of the provisions made in it are inadequate,” she said.
In addition to advocating on behalf of women and children, Se-Shauna is passionate about the enforcement of human rights.
“Instead of merely enacting laws that seek to protect human rights, I would like to see them enforced and I would like to work with the government in that way to influence the changes from the inside out. What we need are legal changes and policy changes, and I think I can contribute by working within government’s legal offices,” the 22-year-old told the Sunday Observer.
Come next year, she should graduate from the Norman Manley Law School with a Certificate of Legal Education after which she will go to the University of Oxford -the oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of the world’s foremost academic institutions – to pursue a Bachelor of Civil Law, which is actually a Master’s level programme.
Se-Shauna is not the only one on her family who has displayed academic excellence. In fact, it apparently runs through the family’s veins. Both her parents, Alethia and Junior, are teachers and older sister Rochey is pursuing a Master’s in Clinical Psychology at the University of the West Indies (UWI). Her younger brother Junior is a final-year student of Pure & Applied Sciences, also at the UWI.
The newly declared Rhodes scholar said her family is supportive of her and that they are “proud and thrilled”.
“My parents told me that they hadn’t slept the night before the interviews. They were extremely nervous,” she said laughing. “From an early age, we were always told that ‘Listen, we are from humble beginnings and in order to make something of yourself, you have to do your work’. That was instilled in me from an early age, so when I got to the point where I was on my own and I had to take responsibility for my own studies it was already ingrained in me so it was not difficult for me to have that discipline that I needed to be successful,” Se-Shauna explained.
The young woman said she sets high standards and works towards them, not because of egotistical considerations, but because she believes one should always aim for the highest “and if you fall short, then so be it”.
Her high school performance testifies to her philosophy and to her unswerving diligence. She earned eight distinctions at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations in 2001 and placed second in the island in French and fifth in Principles of Business. She went on to get two ‘A’s, one ‘B’ and a ‘C’ at the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced level examinations two years later.
Also in 2003, she was awarded the Grace Kennedy Jamaica scholarship and was recognised at Campion College for having the highest grades in History, English Literature and Spanish. And as far as extra-curricular involvement goes, Se-Shauna has held several positions in school-based organisations, has done legal internships and has tutored at the UWI.
Presently, she chairs the legislative committee of the law school and is second in command of the language association. She is also a member of the National Initiative for Street children and a member of the human rights committee.
Wheatle won the prestigious scholarship from a field of nine candidates, but it was only on her second attempt that she succeeded.
“Last year I gather that I did do well, just not well enough to get the scholarship so I decided to apply again this year and try even harder to persuade the panel that I was the right person,” she said.
And that she did. Secretary of the selection committee, Peter Goldson told the Sunday Observer last week that Se-Shauna “showed herself to have the character, and to be able to explain her views and to reason out issues [and] that gave her that extra edge”.