Tanice embracing her second chance - Dreams of being a vet

There is nothing that 17-year-old Tanice Ducram would like more than to pursue her dreams of being a veterinarian.

Looking back, she now regrets the time she wasted while at Kellits High School where she admits she was "kind of a bad girl".

With a self-conscious smile, she related that just stepping on her shoes could incur her wrath, and being a part of a group of girls who weren't afraid to "step to you" gave her the confidence to engage those who offended her.

Class time would see her hiding in the bathroom, playing music or just not turning up at all.

Things turned around for Ducram when due to her grandmother's illness, her mother had to move to care for her. That meant enrolling Tanice at May Pen Academy.

She didn't fight, but she said she never really paid attention to the lessons, until she realised that she was wasting her time and that her parents were struggling to send her to school.

"It was like a wake-up call for me," she said, admitting that it was enough to change her focus and see her embracing her schoolwork.

Ducram, who has now finished her schooling at the academy, did not get the opportunity to sit any Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects as her parents couldn't afford it.

So she used the opportunity to assist her schoolmates in their studies. She then sat English in City and Guilds, earning a distinction.

Now enrolled in the Career Advancement Programme (CAP), Ducram said she has not given up on her dream to be a veterinarian.

"I need help. I wouldn't mind having someone to be my mentor, helping me to focus more, and also to get help to sit the necessary subjects that would set me on the path to my dream," she said.

With her classes in the CAP programme beginning at 3 p.m., Ducram asked the school's principal, Beverley Hawthorne, if she could volunteer her time at the school by assisting other students with their schoolwork, an offer she was more than happy to accept.

Until then, Ducram said it's all about taking it one day at a time, helping those she can along the way, while she waits for her break.