From left: Keisha Thompson-Jackson, Shernette Thompson and Stephanie Thompson-Lawrence. - Photo by Carl Gilchrist

It's there in music, in sports and other areas of life, siblings being involved in the same profession or recreation.

In this case, it might not have started by design, but over the years the Thompson sisters have been following in each other's footsteps on their way to charting a career in teaching.

Keisha Thompson-Jackson, Sher-nette Thompson and Stephanie Thompson-Lawrence are all teachers at Madras All-Age, Hoolebury Primary and Servite Primary, respectively, all in St Ann.

Prior to that, they all attended St Hilda's Diocesan High School in Brown's Town where they are from.

Today they are all contact teachers for the Jamaica Teachers' Associa-tion (JTA).

Two of the three were trained at St Joseph's Teachers' College and the other at Moneague.

"We get along very, very well and we're all over the place together; we're always together," said Shernette, the 'middle sister', when asked how was the chemistry between the siblings.

Recently, they attended the JTA's Contact Teachers' Institute at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort and Spa where they were recognised by the JTA for their contribution to education.

The story goes back to the mid-1990s after Keisha, who is the youngest but who has been a teacher the longest - 12 years - graduated from St Hilda's and decided not to go to Brown's Town Community College.

"When I left St Hilda's, I did not want to go to Brown's Town Community College and I got an application form for St Jospeh's Teachers' College and I applied and got through, and I just went there," explained the literacy coordinator for grade four at Hoolebury.

In truth, she revealed, she had decided she wanted to teach but didn't know it would have happened so soon.

Difficult at times

About her job Keisha says: "They (the students) respond well, even though it's kind of rough because I have to go out of my way sometimes to get information based on the reading material. It's kind of difficult at times, but they are so loving and because of that I try to work with them," she said.

Later, when she found out her older sisters were to join her in the profession, she was excited. "I felt good!" she exclaimed.

Stephanie, the eldest, and second to be trained, is a grade-one teacher at Hoolebury Primary at Scarlette Hall near Runaway Bay. She started working at the Ministry of Education's Region Three offices in Brown's Town shortly after graduating from St Hilda's.

"When I left St Hilda's, my mother had both of them (Keisha and Shernette) at St Hilda's to finish school. My father was a butcher, my mother wasn't working, she was a housewife; she didn't have the money to send me to college so she said I would have to work. So when I left St Hilda's, I started working with the Ministry of Education and was there for seven years. Then I left and went to Moneague College and did my teacher-training."

The decision to leave was not easy, as "the money was good" (for a high-school graduate) but having made up her mind, Stephanie set about to fulfil her ambition.

"It's all right now because I like working with children and imparting knowledge. Being in the classroom is a lot more work than working in the office but it has its moments. I teach grade one and the children, some of them, are so loving, you know," she explained.

She has been teaching for nine years now.

Shernette is the last to be trained and has been teaching for five years, having graduated from St Joseph's in 2003. She suggested that: "The root of the teacher-training in the family came about with my sister (Stephanie) working at the Ministry of Education."

Shernette's first teaching job after college was at Brampton All-Age in Trelawny before moving to Hoolebury in September 2007.

All outspoken

But how did all three end up being contact teachers for the JTA?

"Because we're all outspoken," Keisha suggested.

Shernette revealed that because of her outspokenness, the teachers (at Brampton) suggested that she became the contact teacher, a post she maintained after she went to Hoolebury.

According to Stephanie: "Because I used to work at the Ministry of Education, there are certain issues that I know about, I have some knowledge so when the contact teacher was migrating about two to three years ago, she suggested that I take over from her."

At the seminar, the sisters were recognised for their contribution to education from the perspective of being three sisters in the same field, contributing to the same cause with outstanding service at the primary level.

The best part is there is more to come.