Budding track star Ronesha is ‘running with her books’

When 13-year-old Ronesha Rhule crossed the finish line at the BK 5K earlier this year, she was only focused on winning the race.

She could not have known it would lead to a high school scholarship that gives new meaning to a mantra her mother repeated for years, “Run, but run with your books, too.” The Holmwood Technical High School student stood among 34 outstanding recipients who received more than $14 million in scholarships and bursaries from the Burger King Scholarship programme last week. She was awarded one of nine Secondary Open Scholarships to help see her through the next five years of high school. But Ronesha’s path to the scholarship was anything but conventional.

Following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, the 5K, which was typically in the preseason line-up, instead happened in March, and she found herself, as a brand-new member of the renowned Holmwood track team, representing her school while her seasoned teammates rested for the ISSA GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships. Despite a lack of senior athletes, and ongoing challenges related to the hurricane, Holmwood Technical dominated their races at the 5K and Ronesha simply stood out.

Ronesha, who starts grade eight this new academic year, has been competing since she was eight years old at the Point Hill Primary School in her home parish of St Catherine. Over the years, her track record and her positive outlook on life continued to bloom, and it would eventually get her noticed.

“I felt very excited when coach told me because I didn’t expect that I would get a scholarship,” Ronesha admitted. Meanwhile, her mother, Kerry Ann Harrison, a poultry farmer from Point Hill, St Catherine, recalled the moment with glee.

“I was excited. My little son had to remind me, ‘Mommy, remember you are going to church,’ because I was calling other family members to say, ‘Yes, Ronesha has won.’”

While Ronesha has big dreams of becoming a professional track athlete, her mother keeps her grounded in the harsh realities of sports, insisting that academic discipline must go hand in hand with speed on the track.

“One of the things I keep reminding her is that she has to run, and run with her book. Because, you know, injury can come, and that’s a lifetime injury,” Harrison cautioned.

And Ronesha has taken to her mother’s warning. She routinely uses the short windows between gruelling track sessions to study. Likewise, that work ethic extends to refining her track technique. Recalling the time when she first joined the track team, she said that correcting her running form proved to be a major hurdle. Still, she cooperated with coaches to improve and she persevered through the frustrating experience.

“I have a very good mindset, and even if I know that I’m bad at something, I’ll always keep trying until I get to that better level,” she explained. For now, she finds herself drawn to integrated science and learning about the human body, and in the future she hopes to get into a “good college”.

For Harrison, the $75,000-a-year financial backing from this new scholarship represents far more than relief; it is motivation for other youth across rural Jamaica.

“It means a lot to me,” Harrison said, noting that she and Ronesha’s grandmother make every effort to attend races. “It can encourage young people to go for what they believe in and to soar to higher heights. And to let her know that she’s not alone, she has support behind her.”

Asked what advice she has for other youth facing tough times, Ronesha’s message is simple and direct: “No matter what you’re going through, you must not give up. From you are trying, you will do it.”