Scholarship winner hopes to honour mom’s legacy

With just six courses left to complete her degree, Ashanti Wallace had no idea that her mother, Claudia Blair, would not live to see her cross the stage.

Now, an Island Grill scholarship awarded to Wallace has come at a crucial point in her journey, easing the financial burden of tuition and allowing The University of the West Indies (UWI) student to focus on completing her Bachelor’s degree in management studies, with a minor in criminology.

“I just know it’s God who brought me through it. Completing this degree is in honour of my mother,” Wallace told THE STAR. “It was her wish for me to come out to something and be great in life. She always just wanted me to be successful, to get an education and break generational curses.”

Wallace, who is from St Elizabeth and attended The Hampton School, is the only child for Blair, a single mother who made significant sacrifices for her. Blair was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis before Wallace entered primary school and, by the time Wallace was in high school, her condition had worsened to the point where she could no longer work.

“I remember my mother came home and she couldn’t even walk properly,” Wallace recalled. “Her knees couldn’t manage her weight because of the arthritis.”

Blair had previously travelled to the Cayman Islands to work as a nanny when Wallace was younger, but as her health deteriorated, Wallace’s godmother became a major source of financial support during high school. A few family members on her mother’s side also assisted.

With that support, Wallace completed eight CSEC subjects, CAPE and an associate degree before entering The UWI in 2023. But university presented its own financial challenges.

“When I just started, I had a lot of issues with payment, so I missed a lot of exams,” she said. This scholarship has now helped to relieve some of that pressure.

“It’s allowing me to focus fully on completing the degree and doing my best on the exams,” she said. Wallace recalled that her mother always told her that she didn’t get to do higher education, so she wanted that for Wallace.

“She said that I should just focus on my work, do my best and then succeed in life.”

But while Wallace was working towards that future, Blair became seriously ill last November.

“She thought she just had the flu. She was going to the doctor, and they gave her antibiotics thinking it was something minor,” Wallace said. By December, Blair’s condition had worsened and she was admitted to Mandeville Regional Hospital.

“She started vomiting a lot. She just couldn’t keep down anything. She was extremely weak,” Wallace recalled. She said her mother was diagnosed with kidney failure and lupus, with the illness affecting her heart and brain. She suffered a stroke and went into a coma.

“It was just a lot of things and I tried really hard to process everything while still continuing to study,” Wallace said. “I am her only child. It was really difficult because I had to be going back and forth. My aunt stepped in when I could not make it.”

Wallace last saw her mother in February. Blair had suffered a stroke.

“When I would look for her, she would just open her eyes and try moving her mouth, but she couldn’t speak much,” Wallace said. Their final conversation was via WhatsApp.

“She said to me that I shouldn’t worry myself and I shouldn’t worry about her because she ago alright and me fi just take care,” Wallace recalled. Blair died on March 5.

“I was planning to go down the following weekend and she passed before I could come back home,” Wallace lamented. Blair’s funeral was held on April 19, just three days before Wallace’s first final examination.

“It was really difficult, and I just know it’s God who brought me through it. Sometimes I would just think that I can’t continue,” Wallace said. “[But] knowing my mother, she would never want me to give up. She would just want me to fight through, continue and do the best.”

Wallace hopes to start working as soon as she finishes her studies.

“I just really want to make her proud and live a good life that she never got to live.”