Javeré Green reaps rewards through determination

“I was ashamed to walk through the gates of The University of the West Indies.”

Now 32 years old, Javeré Green battled thoughts of suicide brought on by extreme depression, an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) pre-diagnosis, ridicule from friends, and imposter syndrome to accomplish the unusual journey of taking 10 years to complete a three-year degree.

Born to parents Deanne and Courtney, Green was the only son among three sisters. He was his mother’s first and his dad’s second child and attended the privately run Vaz Preparatory School before joining Wolmer’s Boys’ School.

At 17 years old, Green entered the gates of The University of the West Indies (UWI), aiming to complete a double major in geography and geology.

“At one point, my GPA was 0.5, and I was asked to leave, and I had to use each summer as a third semester to repeat courses to achieve satisfactory grades,” he told The Gleaner yesterday.

“To be honest, firstly I could say that the shift from high school to university was a big shift. The method in which I used to study [and] how things were easier, to be quite frank, in high school, to university, that adjustment did not happen, and I also do believe to some extent my [lack of] maturity was a part of it. If I remember correctly, when I started in 2011, I started at 17. It was a difficult transition for me.”

Green fell into a whirlpool of indecision, switching from a geography and geology double major, to a geography major and geology minor, switching to a geology major and a geography minor, then dropping geography completely to focus on Geology.

BATTLE WITH DEPRESSION

It did not help, and after failing “multiple times”, he was once again faced with the real prospect that he would be kicked out of The UWI as he had to face the dreaded Academic Board on two occasions.

“Depression started to creep in. That was one of the reasons, too, as well. I was struggling. I tried. It hurts because I was trying. I was studying and still failing. It made no sense. Like, I am doing the readings, I am going to the lectures, what am I doing wrong?”

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and when it was suggested to him in 2018 that he switch to business, he reluctantly turned to the Faculty of Social Sciences, literally throwing himself at the mercy of the then dean.

“He looked at my transcript, and I will never forget the first thing that he said was, ‘What took you so long?’ I explained to him that I did not want to give up, I wanted to prove to everyone that I could do it.”

That conversation led to a transfer to the social sciences faculty to pursue a major in management studies before one of his lecturers, Dr Suzanna Russell, suggested that he read instead for a degree in operations management.

“And, you know, it has just been history since, and I was able to complete the undergrad by 2021. Even then, that was a struggle because at the time when I thought everything was done, it was Dr Sherine James-Williamson who had to help me because my grades were so horrible that the university did not want to award me a degree because I did not have enough credit hours because of the amount of times I failed,” he recalled.

“The ADHD pre-diagnosis was hard to accept, and it took me a year or two to return to the health centre (on campus) after the initial diagnosis. But I went back because depression set in. I even contemplated suicide because I just felt worthless, you know, and there are persons laughing at me telling me I was wasting my time [and] I would never leave UWI.”

MORE EMBARRASSMENT

Although he found his groove with his new major at a new faculty, Green had to face even more embarrassment.

“When I switched over to management studies at the time, that was when the reality set in. There were persons who were two years below me at Wolmer’s who in two different courses were my lecturers, and I could tell you I was very ashamed. I didn’t even want to go to class because I was saying, ‘Imagine I wasted so much time that persons who were below me were able to graduate, come back, and lecture me on this same undergraduate stuff’.”

Green’s family was very supportive, but he was weighed down by thoughts of letting them down.

“My parents were paying for me and supporting me, but I felt ashamed as well. My older sister completed her pharmacology degree. I had a younger sister who at the time completed her law degree and was in Norman Manley Law School. So for me, I was, like, ‘What’s happening for me and I am the only boy?’”

In 2022, Green defied the odds and was accepted into three master’s programmes but opted in 2023 to begin study in logistics and supply chain management.

However, when he failed his first mid-semester test in a statistics course, getting 19 out of 50, he was once again forced to face more demons, battling imposter syndrome, questioning whether he had any right to be there.

He credits his cohort of graduate students with helping him through the bouts of depression and self-doubt.

“My classmates insisted that nobody in this cohort is failing. We are all graduating together, so we spent weekends studying. Our study sessions were like a class of 20, and that was how I was able to pass.”

He soon faced another challenge as a member of his cohort, Danique Crossfield, encouraged him to apply for a space in the Mona School of Business and Management’s Global Leadership and Collaboration Programme with the University of Buffalo in the United States.

He felt like a deer in headlights as he was gripped by the fear of failing again. However, Crossfield was undaunted, and after trying to quit, Green, along with Crossfield and Roxane Henlon, successfully completed the one-year course of study.

Serendipitously, two people earmarked to make the final presentations were unable to do so, and with just 15 minutes to spare, he was forced out of his comfort zone and presented on behalf of his group.

He was named a Top Global Scholar and the first Jamaican man to earn the top honour among more than 70 candidates from 14 countries, earning him travel to the University of Buffalo then to Texas for the global conference.

On September 28, 2025, Green earned his master’s degree with merit.

“COVID-19 robbed me [of] walking across the stage after my 10-year undergraduate journey, and Hurricane Melissa has delayed my graduation following completion of my master’s to January 2026,” he noted yesterday.

And in what is a “full circle” moment, Green is now a senior business analyst at The UWI, is a mentor at Wolmer’s as well as with the Global Leadership programme even as he contemplates pursuing his doctorate.

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com