Sheldene Senior, one of the recipients of the Governor-General's Achievement Youth Award for Excellence for the parish of St. Elizabeth, receiving her award from Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall, at a ceremony at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Montego Bay on Thursday September 21. - Photo by Noel Thompson

Sheldene Senior could not contain her emotions when she received news that she was one of several nominees for this year's Governor-General's Achievement Youth Award for Excellence.

"I just kept jumping," the 21-year-old recipient from St. Elizabeth said. She said that she was thankful to the persons who saw it fit to have nominated her for this prestigious award.

On the afternoon of Thursday, September 21, Sheldene was among the 10 youth awardees who collected plaques from Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall, at a ceremony at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Montego Bay.

"I am very pleased to know that the Governor-General and his committee have come up with something for the youths in particular. As a youth awardee, it is just overwhelming," she told The Gleaner.

A graduate of Hampton School and the University of the West Indies, Sheldene Senior is the pride of her alma mater where she now works as a mathematics teacher. Hers is a unique story of a student who entered a non-traditional female subject area, mathematics, leading to a Bachelor of Science Degree in Actuarial Science. Along the way, she obtained the Faculty Award for Inclusion on the Dean's List, and First Class Honours degree.

While a student at UWI, she took time to volunteer as a reader for the blind and worked as a voluntary laboratory technician. She also took time to study sign language, and now teaches the art at the Holy Cross Moravian Church in Santa Cruz.