University grad sits exam during labour

Shaneiva James’s journey to securing a university degree was anything but typical.

Just as she logged in online to take her final exam in her first year, she felt the unmistakable pangs of labour pain. Refusing to be defeated, she stayed online and started her exam, but the baby was determined to come that day.

Her partner, in the meantime, had summoned a taxi to rush her to the hospital. With every contraction, she pushed through, determined to complete the exam.

“Before the exam, I reached out to my lecturer and told him that I wasn’t sure I could do the exam because that was my son’s due date. But he told me my only option would be to resit the course next semester and I decided that was not an option because it would set me back,” James said.

The contractions were coming fast and furious, but James refused to let the timing ruin her hard work. “My partner was like, ‘You need to go to the hospital,’” she shared, describing how they sped off.

“When I got to the hospital is when I finished the exam,” said James, who passed.

However, James’ path to higher education had been fraught with obstacles. Diagnosed with hypertension and facing a high-risk pregnancy, the odds were stacked against her. Yet, she remained resolute in her goal to be her family’s first university graduate.

“Becoming a university graduate was too important to me,” she said. “My mom had seven children and she never had much to support us. We grew up in a little board house in St Mary and I was the first to graduate high school and I really wanted to be the first in my family to go to university.”

However, challenges started after she graduated from St Mary High School. In upper six, her mother could no longer assist her financially, so she had to work and send herself to school.

“After sixth form I really wanted to go to university, but with everything that I went through working and going to school, I didn’t think it was possible at the time,” James explained. She then started working on a construction site, but a friend pointed out her intelligence to her bosses. She then completed business management (supervisor level three) and introduction to bartending and mixology

While working at a bakery, she reconsidered going to university.

“I was just there one day and decided to apply. But when I sent off the application, it said that it didn’t go through, so I thought it was a sign,” James said. She then lost her job during the pandemic, but she was shocked and elated when she found out that her application to The University of the West Indies (UWI) was accepted. However, her excitement quickly turned into worries when she learnt she was pregnant.

“But my partner encouraged me and I even called the school and they said being pregnant is not a problem when coming to university,” said James.

She started her classes online and she and her partner raised chickens to pay her tuition. After giving birth to her son in December 2021, James received a scholarship. But one of the requirements was to complete a number of volunteer hours, so she had to take her newborn with her.

“It was tough, but I couldn’t let anything hold me back from reaching my goals especially because I wanted to give my son a better life.” Another challenge arose when face-to-face classes resumed and she had to move to Kingston, and a woman whose cousin she knew, gave her a place to stay.

“It was really hard and there were times I didn’t have anybody to keep him (her son) so I could go to classes. Financially, it was even harder. My partner even had to move to Kingston and work two jobs just to support us,” James said. But things eventually improved as James found significant support from the UWI community.

“Everybody got so familiar with him because I was there with him every day. The staff, students, even persons at the stalls, all of them helped me with him. He even became known as ‘the UWI baby’, and trust me, the support from them was amazing,” James said.

Two weeks ago, James graduated, and now holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, with a double minor in management studies and criminology.