What makes a truly Outstanding Teen?

Latonia Fray has racked up academic and sporting achievements that many students of her age can only aspire to.

The Saltus student’s hard work and dedication paid off this Saturday when she was named the overall winner of Teen Services Outstanding Teen Awards.

Her aspiration is to become a financial analyst and her academic achievements so far point to a successful career.

She is currently in her second year of study at Saltus’ college preparatory course and is taking three Advanced Placement courses in Macroeconomics, English Language and Calculus as well as A Level Accounting, College Level Exam Programme Sociology and a pre-college course in Modern World Studies.

As a sportswoman, Fray has excelled having represented Saltus in no fewer than six sports and winning prizes along the way. She has also represented the Bermuda Hockey Association at a national level for the under 17, under 21 and senior national team. Hockey is her real sporting passion but she is also an exceptional goalkeeper.

Her teachers describe her as a “natural leader”. Aside from her academic and sporting triumphs, Fray does her bit for the community volunteering for several charities, taking part in Duke of Edinburgh and contributing to debate and speaking teams.

Her strength of character could be measured when she was cited for a minor traffic violation. Insisting her innocence she walked in to court, defended herself and won.

So what makes a teenager so driven and successful? Fray gave us an insight into her world.

Why are you driven to achieve so highly in your academic and sporting life?

It is just the way I am. I used to have a fear of failing until I realised I had to get over it because sometimes the failures are lessons. I used to say a B is not good enough but now I feel that as long as I am doing my best then that is all I can do for myself. It’s just about challenging myself to do better which I think that most teens should do and that has encouraged me to go through these successes.

How do you fit in all of your everyday commitments?

One thing it took was time management and lots of organization. I have been doing this since I was in middle school. I would go from a hockey game straight to dance or go from hockey to a revision session and straight after school I would do two or three extra curricular activities and then stay up late and do homework. I had to prioritise and set up a schedule. It is something you learn — you are not going to be perfect from jump at juggling all these things and learn different skills from doing so. I think time management and organization is key to being successful with multiple activities.

Why have you chosen financial analyst as a career option?

I have always had a keen interest in maths and my curriculum has always been business oriented.

It is my academic interest. My hockey coach at a national and local level (Dai Hermann-Smith) is also my economics teacher — I spend most of my time with him.

He has played a large part in influencing me into that career path.

How do you hope to pursue your sporting interests?

At university I plan to play varsity hockey most likely during my second year depending on where I go. My academic interests are quite high so my interests for university are quite high... If I go to an Ivy (League) I think I will have to feel my first year out to make sure I can hold the grades then decide whether I want to do varsity or recreational hockey.

Where do you see yourself working in the future?

I would like to first, after graduating, travel and work in different areas.

For instance Drexel University (Philadelphia) which is one of the schools that I have been accepted into with a scholarship — they offer a co-op programme whereby you can do paid work experience in a place of your choice.

I have had a keen interest to work in Brazil and China as they are growing economically. So I would like to gain experience working there and then I would like to bring that experience back to Bermuda in my last term.

How does it feel to have been named overall Outstanding Teenager of the Year?

I was very excited about it I think I was still in shock at the time I didn’t process it until Sunday or Monday. Now it is starting to hit me that I didn’t do all of these things for nothing and it has certainly paid off.

The remaining winners were:

Arisha Butterfield; Pierre Basden; Dominique Rawlins; Ke’Anne Adcock-Smith; Kevin Pacheco; JayLynn Hines; Breon Neverson; Constance Campbell; Torrae Wainwright; Anna Dobson; Benjamin Sayers; Yanna Smith; Katherine Ewles; Rickai Burrows; Courtney Clay; Nahshon Hollis; Morgan Beckles; Kent Bean.