‘Sweetie Girl’ demonstrates resilience in surviving college
Her name is Jasmine Collins, but she is more popularly known as ‘Sweetie Girl’ on the campus of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) in St Andrew.
She recalled being on campus and having just $1,000 to her name and no food in her dorm room. Collins wondered how she would survive and then began to pray about the situation. Not long after, she was heading to a wholesale with the $1,000 but her intention was not to purchase food. Instead, she used the money to buy a quantity of sweets and a jar. That was the start of her sweetie selling business.
“I went down to school the following day and sold all those sweets. Eventually I bought more and the small bottle that I started with became a big pan from which
I sold a variety of sweets and snacks,” she told THE WEEKEND STAR.
Collins said when she just started out, she would sometimes get discouraged and a little ashamed, especially at some of the not-sokind comments from naysayers. She said that she kept reminding herself that selling sweets was critical to funding her daily needs such as purchasing meals.
Finding the courage to persevere is nothing new to the 24-year-old Collins. She got pregnant at age 21 while attending Church Teachers’ College. However, instead of feeling sorry for herself, she picked up the pieces and moved on to EMCVPA.
“I had just finished my first year and I found out that I was pregnant, and people had lots of things to say, and at one point I felt like curling up under a stone and dying,” she said.
However, with the support of “a praying mother”, Jacqueline Scafe, the youngster prepared herself for a rebound.
“My mother said ‘just brush off and continue’,” said Collins, who hails from Manningsfield, a small farming community in Clarendon.
The determined young woman chose not to return to church, opting instead to head to EMCVPA where she is pursuing theatre arts.
“It has been a fight, it has been a struggle. I push to ensure that I can make something of myself so that I can be a role model to my son and other young women who might end up in my situation,” she informed.
The second-year student was on Wednesday presented with a scholarship at the Jamalco Education Assistance Awards held at the Halse Hall Great House in Clarendon.
Jamalco’s education assistance programme has been a feature of the company for the past 16 years. A minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 and demonstrated financial need are among the criteria for selection. For this academic year, 70 students across Clarendon and Manchester received scholarships and grants from the company totalling $10 million.
Collins said that the scholarship has made things a little easier for her, even as she assures that “come September when I return to school, I will be restarting my business!”
“I had just finished my first year and I found out that I was pregnant, and people had lots of things to say, and at one point I felt like curling up under a stone and dying.”