The Tribune

By FELICITY DARVILLE

Diamond Pearson is breaking barriers and paving her own path to success - one that will ultimately allow her to contribute to her country in an area where not too many experts exist.

As 2023 comes to a close, her family and friends are celebrating her graduation from North Carolina Central University, a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. She graduated just weeks ago with a Master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders - a field where few black people, and even fewer people of Caribbean descent exist. To top it off, she graduated with a 3.85GPA as Magna Cum Laude.

Diamond found that it was rare to be a Caribbean student studying in this area, but it gave her the impetus to break glass ceilings and set a pace for many other Bahamian and Caribbean students to follow.

“When you look at the global statistics of speech language pathologists in the United States of America, only about four percent are black, and even a smaller percentage are from a Caribbean country like I am,” Diamond said.

“Just knowing there are only a small number of individuals doing what I am doing motivates me.”

The communication sciences and disorders field is a big umbrella, under which the science of speech therapy exists. Diamond’s discipline, and she did so well in her classes, meant that she was offered a job at Spoken-4 Communications in Durham, North Carolina. The clinic specialises in the evaluation and treatment of speech language services to individuals from birth to three years old, providing early intervention for paediatric children. Diamond starts work next week with high hopes of touching lives and improving her own.

Diamond won’t rest there. She has every intention of continuing her journey and earning a doctorate degree in audiology, allowing her to be dual certified in speech language pathology and audiology.

“I think my skills will be important for The Bahamas,” she said.

“At the time that I chose to become an audiologist, there were only two audiologists in the entire country. I got a chance to work with one of them - Dr Kim Scriven at Doctor’s Hospital. The other audiologist is also a female and this is another reason for my aspiration to achieve this goal.”

Her capstone project for graduation was: “We have to work twice as hard to get half of what they have: dialectal differences and its impact on international students.” Her work highlights some of the struggles that international students, especially those with dialects, face while pursuing tertiary dreams. Their spirit of tenacity towards their goals make it even more laudable when they achieve them.

For Diamond, 2023 started out as a difficult year. She had to sit out a semester when her grandfather, Rev CB Moss, community and church leader in Bain Town, had a serious health scare that left him in a coma for several weeks. However, she returned to school and not only completed; she earned Magna Cum Laude the second highest honour amongst graduates.

“I have always been one to do the impossible,” she shared.

“From undergrad when I found out that students could graduate in three years instead of four, that became my mission in my freshman year. I achieved that! Then when I transitioned to graduate school, even though I had a significant amount of challenges towards the end of my goal, I pushed through and persevered.”

“In January of 2023, my grandfather’s situation took a toll on me because we have a close relationship. I took time out from school to come back home to The Bahamas to be at the hospital and support him and my grandmother. It was difficult going back to school at first, and it was difficult leaving my grandfather in the hospital, but because of the emphasis my grandparents put on education, I had to finish my programme.”

Things came full circle as Rev Moss made a miraculous recovery and by December, he was able to travel to North Carolina and see Diamond receive her degree.

“I was so thankful that my grandfather was able to come to my graduation,” she said.

“He was able to walk, able to talk... and it just shows that God never forgets about us. Your January doesn’t determine what your December will be. The year 2023 started off very ‘touch and go’ for our family. I am so glad that we were able to transition out of that and be together and celebrate with one another at the end of this year.”

In addition to focusing on her studies, Diamond had to participate in clinical rotations, and she was also a graduate assistant to the tutoring and supplemental instruction department at North Carolina Central University. Her hard work did not go unnoticed. School faculty knew about Rev Moss’ health troubles and Diamond’s tenacity and as a result, when he and his wife Francisca attended their granddaughter’s graduation, they received the royal treatment from the school.

One of Diamond’s proudest achievements is that she graduated debt-free. Financial literacy, she said, is very important to her. She intends to fund her graduate studies and receive her doctorate degree debt-free as well.

“When I started this graduate school journey, I was 20 years old; now I am 22,” Diamond pointed out.

“Statistically it’s still a young age to hold a Master’s degree - I don’t take this achievement lightly. I am very proud of where I have come at a young age and from such a small country. I am making a name for myself and my country in a state like North Carolina.”

“Thanks to my professors and supervisors at my clinical rotations,” Diamond said.

“Thank you to my parents Crystal Moss and Tracy Pearson, and to my immediate and extended family. I am also thankful to my church family, Mount Olive Baptist Church (Rev Moss Church on Meadow and Augusta Streets) and to my church family in North Carolina.”