The Tribune

By Felicity Darville

Jamielle Davis is a Fox Hill girl to the bone. Her homestead is in Fox Hill, as is her church and the school she spent all of her formative years in.

If you have ever witnessed the Fox Hill Day service held at the historical St Paul’s Baptist church, you would have seen Jamielle. She often moderated the service and also performed well-received recitations, including “Roses on my shoulders, sandals on my feet, I’m my mommy’s black eye, baby don’t you think I’m sweet?” and “What you looking at me for… I ‘aint’ come here to stay, I just came to tell you, that today was Fox Hill Day!”

She enjoys serving as an ambassador for her community. She placed third in the Little Miss Fox Hill pageant in 2005. She was also very involved at her church, St. Paul’s, under the leadership of Bishop J Carl Rahming and Minister Evangline Rahming. She served in SURGE youth ministry, the usher board and planning youth events such as the annual ‘lock in’. She graduated from St Anne’s School, Fox Hill in 2015 after spending all of her school years there, from kindergarten straight through to grade 12.

“My community is a big part of me, not only because my home, school and church is located there, but because my heart lives there too,” said Jamielle.

From St Anne’s, Jamielle went on to study at Morgan State University, graduating this past May as Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Marketing degree and a 4.0 grade point average.

Dr Jacinta Higgs, a noted Fox Hillian, was there to cheer her on. She introduced me to Jamielle, a young lady she considers her godchild; one she watched grow up in Fox Hill.

One week before her high school graduation, Jamielle was applying to a school in Toronto where she experienced a payment issue with her room and board. On her way to the bank, she received a phone call from her advisor at Junior Achievement Bahamas stating there was a Morgan State Recruiter at her office. At this time, Jamielle never knew about Morgan State, the institution that would change the course of her life. After reviewing her college application profile, she was immediately extended a Martin D Jenkins Scholarship.

Jamielle started her tertiary-level journey in the fall of 2015. Since then, Jamielle has served as Chief of Staff in the Student Government Association for her sophomore class, Secretary for the Caribbean Students Association and a Campus Student Ambassador who volunteered to give tours to prospective students since her freshman year.

Through the business school’s Graves Honours programme, she was chosen to be the student representative for the global exposure trip to Toronto in her freshman year, then to Dublin in her sophomore year. During the winter of her junior year, she worked with the Office of Study Abroad to study Japanese Anime and Popular Culture for a semester in Tokyo at Seisin University.

In her senior year, she served as the Chief of Staff and Budget and Finance Manager for the Campus Activities Board which is responsible for planning major school events such as Homecoming, Back to School Week, and ‘I Love Morgan’ Week. She is also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honour’s Society, the National Association of Black Accountants and she was the President of the Accounting Honour’s Society, Beta Alpha Psi.

During her last year, Jamielle blazed her own trail by starting a campus ministry with a group of her friends Evan, Kiley, and Hillary.

“We gathered every Wednesday night with others from our campus as well as students around the area for connect group & midnight praise and prayer,” said Jamielle.

“Although this came with many sacrifices and pruning seasons, we were humbled to be a vessel used by God. We currently extended the ministry online with our all-access prayer line and Instagram live on Sundays & Wednesdays at 8:30pm.”

Jamielle also writes monthly devotionals and anyone wishing to sign up for them should send her an email at lifestylechangeagency@gmail.com.

“When I do have my quiet time, I enjoy reading God’s word and writing monthly devotionals that I send out through Lifestyle Change Agency,” she explained.

“I am passionate about being a Lifestyle Change Agent for Christ (LCA). An LCA is an agent for Christ, who lives out every area of their lives to the fullest, capitalising on all opportunities presented to them and giving God all the Glory for it. We are Christ’s agents, speaking on behalf of Him, mirroring what Paul spoke about in 2 Corinthians 5:20; ‘So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’

“When I am not writing devotionals or trying some new fun activity, I love cooking an authentic Bahamian meal and trying new recipes for my friends and family to enjoy at game night. I also love to hang out with my friends and try adventurous outdoor activities. Just recently, we went glow in the dark zip-lining and climbing in the woods about 20 feet above ground.”

This summer, Jamielle’s top priority is to pass her CPA (Certified Public Accountant) examinations, which she is studying assiduously for as she will be sitting all four parts. She told me that it was while taking Mr Rosson’s accounting class at St Anne’s that she first fell in love with the subject. She went on to apply those and other business skills in Junior Achievement, further cementing her choice to become an accountant. She went on to intern at KPMG Bahamas during her freshman year and PwC Atlanta during the summers of her sophomore and junior years. She will be moving to Atlanta this fall to start with PwC as an Assurance Associate.

The community spirit in Fox Hill became a source of support for Jamielle, who adds that her mother, Dorcas Miller, is “such a blessing” in her and her sister’s lives.

“I am forever grateful to my grandmother, Olive W Davis ‘Ms. Tita’, who truly impacted me with wisdom and teachings that she continues to share with us,” she said.

“I am also grateful for Daddy Super, Philip Miller, and the love and support he has shown me in all my pursuits.”

Jamielle has an acronym that motivates her: “I would encourage everyone to have VISION.”

• V - Value your self worth and all that you are. View your self in a way that you probably don’t see now, but you know that it is coming. Vision is what we see when our eyes are closed.

• I - Ignite every flame of your being to strive to be the best that you can be.

• S - Seek help when you need it! Every day is a learning moment.

• I - Inspire others even when you don’t feel inspired.

• O- Overcome obstacles. These trials are building character for the journey ahead. Know that if God is before you then who can stand against you.

• N- Never give up - Don’t allow fear to paralyse you, friends’ opinions to stop you, or lack of resources to hinder you! If God gave you a vision don’t stop until it is manifested. Everyday, give your best in all that you do because you will never get this moment back again.