On Thursday 22nd November 2018, our director, Ms. Sammy, attended a career panel held by the Department of Geography at the University of the West Indies. This career panel is held as part of the Geography departmentās annual Geography Awareness Week.Ā Joined by four other distinguished guests, Ms. Sammy was invited to share her experiences after graduating U.W.I and how life events shaped her vision to create the Holistic Learning Center.
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A common theme throughout the evening was āresilienceā. All of the speakers, who all came from different fields, spoke of their failures. They all reiterated the point that to succeed, we must first failā¦and failā¦and fail some more. Because it is with every set back, we get up quicker, and more importantly, stronger than before. One of the things that stood out to some audience members during the speakersā presentations, was that all four panelists: an analyst, an environmental consultant, an urban planner, a CEO and a special needs teacher alike, saw the importance in never giving up. Ms. Sammy especially, was extremely open about her hardships and showed an already inspired audience, that difficulty does not equate failure. These difficulties instead, allowed her to think a little more outside the box to achieve her goals.
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Throughout Ms. Sammyās life, when faced with adversity, these are the three most constant actions that she has adopted. Many do not know this, but the very inception of HLC came on the back of great disappointment.
Our director achieved a bachelorās with first class honours at the University of the West Indies in Geography and Psychology. Even at this stage, Hannah showed her resilience and refusal to ātake no for an answer.ā Ms. Sammy wished to pursue a double major in geography and psychology but was told that it was impossible to excel in both subjects due to scheduling, as lectures would clash. Hannah took that information, worked with her sister to create schedule of courses to study over the next three years for both geography and psychology. Once achieving all the prerequisites needed for both subjects within her first year, she requested to declare the double major and was granted permission. Thus, she graduated in 2014 with a B.Sc. Geography and Psychology with First Class Honors.
Ms. Sammy then applied and was accepted into Harvard Graduate School of Education University to pursue postgraduate study, a childhood dream of hers. However, upon acceptance, our director soon learnt that none of her scholarship applications were unsuccessful. In the space of a week, Ms. Sammy experienced great heights of academic achievement, followed by heartbreaking disappointment. Unable to understand how she got into this circumstance, Ms. Sammy did the only thing she could do. She improvised, adapted and overcame.
Ms. Sammy decided upon a hybrid Master of Arts Degree from the University of Nottingham which she applied for and was accepted to in 2015. After three years of rigorous study, and balancing two jobs alongside her studies, she graduated in 2018 with an M.A. Special and Inclusive Education (with Distinction).
Holistic Learning Center Ltd. was founded in 2015, at the same time Ms. Sammy received her acceptance to the University of Nottingham. Still lacking financing for her postgraduate studies all Ms. Sammy had was her ambition and a ādo-it-yourselfā attitude. And so despite the H.L.C. starting off as an avenue to finance her masterās degree, it has grown into a safe haven for her students, and a reliable support system for their parents. She strives every day to meet the needs of students who are marginalized by the school system due to differences in learning speed, level and both diagnosed and undiagnosed special educational needs.
In the words of Ms. Sammy, āI hope that today we were able to impact at least one student in the audienceā. Special thanks to the Department of Geography for once again allowing Ms. Sammy to speak on behalf of HLC.
Written & Compiled by Rebecca Sammy (Administrative Assistant)
Mapping our Path: From Geography to SpecialĀ Education On Thursday 22nd November 2018, our director, Ms. Sammy, attended a career panel held by the Department of Geography at the University of the West Indies.