My ‘Terrible’ Teens

Me, MsNastassja, our parents and our dad’s high top hair cut (Miami)

In a recent post, I shared about the first decade of my life growing up in Jamaica. Now I’ll share about my t’ween and teen years.

My family moved to Jamaica in August 1992. Two weeks later, Hurricane Andrew hit the city.  Growing up in Jamaica, I lived through my fair share of hurricanes, so I followed my usual hurricane ritual: I slept through the entire thing. Shortly after the hurricane it was time to start middle school. Middle school was quite an adjustment. I stood out because of my accent and my age. Being 10 years old in the sixth grade, meant everyone else was two years older than me. So while most girls were getting training bras and “becoming women,” I was still into Barbie handbags.

My high school’s mascot was a bulldog, so the step team was called “K-9 Crew.” I’m on the right, next to our faculty advisor.

I was painfully shy (and I still am to a certain extent), so high school started out pretty low-key for me. During my freshman and sophomore year I focused on school and church. So I didn’t get involved with any extracurricular activities.

That’s me in back at a practice meet. I’m at best in 4th place LOL

In my junior year, I decide to try out for the school’s step team and I made it on the team.  That gave me the confidence to join other clubs, teams, and honor societies. I ran track (hurdles, 200m, 400m, high jump and long jump). To the chagrin of my country, I wasn’t a track star by any stretch of the imagination. But I had fun and still earned points for my team. If I’m being honest with myself, I also didn’t try to be good at track: I never practiced independently, worked out, or trained in any fashion. I showed up the day of the meet and gave it my best. I don’t suggest this method of non-training. I graduated high school at 16 years old in the Top 11% of my class (#110 in a class of 1000+ students).

My and my mock trial team mates at FSU

My parents weren’t sending their 16-year-old daughter off to college away from home. So I went to Florida International University until I turned 18 and then transferred to Florida State University. I loved going to FSU. I made some awesome lifetime friends and had adventures/misadventures that created wonderful memories. At the time FSU was unofficially ranked as the “#1 Party School.” Suffice it to say that I helped it live up to its reputation. 

Me and one of my best friends at a photo shoot

I joined several clubs including the modeling troupe and pre-law society. I also competed on the FSU Mock Trial team and won several “Best Attorney” awards for our school competitions. I graduated from FSU when I was 20 years old and was very excited about my future and plans to go to law school.