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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Mr. Luther Smith, Director-General of Bahamas Information Services (second left), met with National Junior standout and BIS Summer Student Daejha Moss, August 20. Pictured from left are: Mrs. Linda Woodside-Major, former National Record Holder and National Champion who serves as Human Resources Manager at BIS; Mr. Smith; Daejha Moss; and Mr. Delvin Moss, Daejha’s father. (BIS Photo/Eric Rose)
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NASSAU, The Bahamas -- Three-time and defending Bahamas National Junior Girls’ High Jump champion Daejha Moss joined the staff of Bahamas Information Services for the summer where she interned in the Broadcasting Division.
Moss, 15, the daughter of Delvin “Cheese” Moss and Mrs. Raquel Moss, will enter the tenth grade at Queen’s College when the Fall Semester opens in September.
The three-time and defending Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Junior Girls High Jump champion, Daejha is also the co-holder of the BAISS Junior Girls High Jump record with a leap of 5ft, 5 inches, matching Tanya Wildgoose’s 21-year-old mark set in 1993.
She was a member of the 2014 Bahamas Association of Athletics Associations’ Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Team, competing in the Girls Under-18 high jump competition as a 14-year old.
Moss also excels on the academic front, earning six Bahamas Junior Certificate Passes in English, Art, Maths, Social Studies, General Science and Religious Education – all Bs.
Mr. Luther Smith, Director-General of Bahamas Information Services, met with Daejha and her father Delvin, August 20, at BIS at which time he applauded the Summer Student for her athletic and academic achievements thus far.
Mr. Smith predicted that by the time Daejha completes Queen’s College, the scholarship offers to colleges and universities abroad “will come pouring in.”
Director-General Smith cautioned Moss to perform the following assessments prior to deciding on a college or university to attend.
“It is not only important for you to make a choice as to which school you would want to attend, (but)in choosing you need to determine how the institution will develop you athletically, and more importantly, how it develops you academically and intellectually.
“You can only jump so high for so long; you can only run so far for so long (and) so you have to ask yourself the question: ‘Am I going to be a doctor, or an accountant, a pilot, engineer, teacher and/or a journalist and then work assiduously towards whatever degree you decide to undertake.
“My advice to you is to maintain a balance between your athletics and academics because while athletics may be your passport to schools such as Auburn, Florida State, Tennessee, Michigan, Texas, California – you name them, academics are very important because it will be the academics that will allow you to take full advantage of the athletic opportunities to gain your degree in whatever career path you choose.”
BIS Director-General Mr. Luther Smith has an informal chat with National Junior Girls standout Daejha Moss and her father, Delvin, at BIS Offices, August 20. Miss Moss was a Summer Student at BIS. (BIS Photo/Eric Rose).
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Mr. Smith said the establishment of the Summer Programme was and continues to be an excellent idea.
“There are some people who may think that the Programme only provides parents with an opportunity to send their children somewhere for the summer, but it is bigger than that,” Mr. Smith said.
“The Programme is very, very useful as it provides students from various age categories opportunities to get a first-hand view as to what the working world is really like, while it provides others with opportunities to make career choices at an early stage of their lives which allows for better career and academic planning.
“I applaud the Government of The Bahamas for providing these students with this opportunity,” Mr. Smith added.
Mrs. Linda Woodside-Major, Human Resources Manager at Bahamas Information Services and a former Bahamas National Record Holder and National Champion, echoed Mr. Smith’s sentiments.
Mrs. Woodside-Major’s athletic and academic prowess helped earned her a scholarship to University abroad – ending in a Master’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism in four years.
“Sports was a means to an end for me to go off to school, get an education and graduate with a degree,” Mrs. Woodside-Major said. “I did my Bachelor’s in three years and the extra year that I had over there went towards completing my Master’s Degree.
“It wasn’t easy because I was the second of nine children; my father was the only bread winner in the family as my mother was a stay-at-home mom, and all of my siblings went to private school and so it was a lot.”
Mrs. Woodside-Major, who benefited from an ‘Out-of-State Scholarship’ and a partial scholarship from the Government of The Bahamas, told Moss that perseverance is going to be key.
“My advice to any young person is put education first because even if you are being paid to compete in a sporting event, there are things like injuries, not being up to par and age that can derail your career. If you have your education, at least you have that to fall back on.
“Take the opportunity to go to school, ensure you get at least a Bachelor’s Degree because it is something that you can take with you anywhere.”
Mr. Moss said while the family is “extremely proud” of Daejha, her successes thus far do not exempt her from the expectations “her mother and I have for all of our children.”
Four of the six Moss siblings have, or are, attending college including Diamond who is a Sophomore at the University of Georgia; Debbie, in her Freshman Year at Georgia; and Petra, a third-year student at the College of The Bahamas. P.J., the only boy in the family, attended the College of The Bahamas working towards an engineering degree, before following his father’s footsteps into the Royal Bahamas Defence Force: “the best place in the world to earn an engineering degree” according to Mr. Moss.
“My wife is the big stick in the house because as you know fathers are pushovers when it comes to their daughters,” Mr. Moss said. “Daejha’s mother has established a set routine that Daejha and the other children must follow. She has chores that must be done. She picks up after herself because no one is there to pick up after her. As the baby of the family, Daejha has really been riding the coattails of her elder siblings, but now that she is coming into her own as a 15-year-old, the expectations on her as they are on everybody else – which includes her pulling her weight because we are trying to teach her responsibility and what the real world is all about.”
Moss told Director-General Smith that he expects his daughter to remain focused.
“We realized early that she would have to balance the two if she wanted to compete, and she has been able to strike that balance so far. Daejha has always been a very good student because she would find time to study and her mother and I expect that to continue. After all, college is very, very expensive,” Mr. Moss added.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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