Some time ago, we ran a story on Miss Tamika Jude from the community of Grandbay who recently completed her Juris degree. In that story, we spoke of her accomplishments. In this article, we speak to her.
1. When asked about her journey, she said, “My journey was a very difficult one because I faced many obstacles along the way. Before I even left Dominica to go to school I was discouraged. I had applied multiple times for government scholarships to pursue my studies abroad, dealt with sexual advances from those in power who were supposed to help and I chose my dignity instead. One day I remember my parents asking me what I wanted to do and I told them I wanted to go to school but I knew that they couldn’t afford it. Up to DSC my parents had never paid a cent for my education, I had always been on scholarships, so my parents told me do some research on student loans and get back to them. Long story short, my parents helped me to get a loan and I went to school with hopes that maybe the government would come through. In my last year of undergrad the money from the loan ran out. I was stuck! I wrote a letter to the president of my university and because I had been a top student all through, I received the necessary help to complete my studies. At the time he emailed to let me know how they were going to help I had already packed up all my things to return to Dominica. That’s just one of the crazy things that happened on my journey. I also spent many nights in the hospital because of severe food allergies which ultimately resulted in me being removed from the student meal plan. In law school, I developed a health condition which caused me to miss an entire month of school and administration was on my back to take a break but I persisted. Mainly, my journey was filled with struggles and I struggled in silence a lot because I didn’t want my parents to worry.
2. What led you to choose your career path?I always knew I wanted to help others I just honesty didn’t know how. Initially I wanted to be a psychiatrist and that’s why I decided to do a Bachelors in Psychology. However, through my readings and research, I became passionate about human rights and immigration law. Then my focus shifted a bit towards the legal side of things and I added criminal justice as a major in my second year of school. I knew that I wanted to defend the defenseless and be a voice for those who could not speak for themselves. I remember being called a lawyer when I was younger because according to my parents “I always had an excuse” I could explain myself out of any situation. But ultimately I settled on working in the field of immigration law. Through my internships, I have seen the huge role a judge plays in the outcome of a case. As an attorney, you can help but especially in cases of Asylum, the judge is the one with discretion to say whether or not an individual is allowed to remain in the US and start a new life. I’m also passionate about criminal law but the idea of defending someone who is guilty hasn’t quite sat well with me. But I do believe in defending the innocent and helping people who were wrongly incarcerated get out of jail.
3.What advice would you give to young persons, especially those who may not have the parental support that you had?My advice is simply “sometimes you have to be your own cheerleader”. Sometimes we feel inadequate or doubt our abilities because we have no support and feel like there is no way we could possibly achieve that goal. However, we can do anything we put our mind to. I believe in mentorship and I mentor 3 young ladies presently. Find someone in the field you want to go into; ask them about the process; see what resources they can provide you with; use your resources it may be a complete stranger but reach out! We need to as young people make our own pathways and have the mind set that I will get there no matter the cost. Look into scholarships, look into loans, speak with family members, speak with strangers. All it takes is for you to believe in yourself and others will too. I have received help from many strangers along my journey who wanted nothing in return but to see me succeed.
4. Have you ever failed at anything? If yes, how did it help you? How did you react or respond?My first year of law school, I failed a midterm. It was a subject that I hated and after I recieved that grade I wanted to quit. I had never failed anything before academically and just the thought of failure made me feel like I had to quit while I was ahead. I blamed the professor, he was famous for being difficult and many believed that he could not teach. When we did the midterm review, I realized that there were people who did worst than I did and I was amazed. I was even more amazed that nobody had a perfect score or even close. That failure broke me for a while but then it became a motivating factor for me. I told myself there were people who did worst than me I was not the bottom but I was also not at the top so I had some work to do. For the rest of that semester I put in the work, spent hours on that subject because I knew the midterm was 20% of my grade. As cliché as it sounds, at that time the words that motivated me were “it could always be worst”. I made it my goal to never have to repeat a course in law school and to never get a GPA low enough to cause me to lose my scholarship and that failure sort of got me out of my comfort zone. I was so used to passing that failure took me off guard. Now in the world of law school technically I didn’t fail because it is graded on a curve but I always held myself to a higher standard so scoring less than 50% was a hard pill to swallow
5. Beside the scholarship at Newtown primary, what other ways have you devoted your life to helping others?I adopted 8 high school seniors from different states and have maintained a mentorship relationship with two of them. Adopting them entailed basically easing the disappointment of their graduation being cancelled so I sent them gift boxes and encouraging cards. I also help several students at universities some from Dominica with Assignments; earlier this month a did a small fundraiser on FB and was able to raise over $800 which went to two needy students at Midwestern; I volunteer at an immigration law firm; I am a certified volunteer tax preparer; I have donated school supplies to students in Dominica; I have also done resume and cover letter revision; I have done a live video on Facebook explaining the immigration process to students currently in the US and those wishing to come to the UD for school. I discussed the process of getting a student visa, challenges of being an international student and other loop holes; I also have people who randomly inbox me with issues and I help them in whatever way possible; I also help students with their application packages for university and personal statements. As a student at UVI I also assisted with aid after Hurricane Maria.
6. Do you have any regrets, in terms of choices at school, career etc. How would you encourage persons to push past disappointments?
No regrets because I believe every aspect of my journey got me to where I am today.
Emonews thanks Miss Tamika Jude for her time and candour. We hope that her words and her story will serve as a motivation to those who have or who are experiencing setbacks in achieving their goals. Do continue to push through.
