Boy wants to win School's Challenge competitionLEIGHTON WILLIAMS, Staff Reporter
NO CHALLENGE IS too great for a boy who believes he can.
Jason Ricketts decided that being blind would not prevent him from fulfilling his dream of playing in TVJ's School Challenge Quiz Competition, a competition that at various stages requires the use of sight.
"From I was little I would hear it on TV and decided that I wanted to play. It was challenging because I can't see but I wanted to play the competition so I started preparing for it," he said.
Jason, who is originally from Montego Bay, St. James, attends Meadowbrook High School in St. Andrew. He was born blind because of Glaucoma. Still, that did not dampen his ambition to take part in the competition which takes place during the second term of the school year.
To overcome the challenge of not being able to see, the information that Jason needed is read to him by his teammates. Other information would be taken home to the Salvation Army institute on Mannings Hill Road, where Jason is a boarder, to be brailed.
Meadowbrook team coach Huntley Kerr explained that Jason was treated no differently from students who could see.
GREAT DETERMINATION
"The students read to him during training and he commits it to memory. Whatever he puts his mind to he succeeds," he said.
Jason said the experience of entering the National Schools' Challenge Quiz has helped him to work with others. During the match against Ewarton High, Jason's teammates could be seen passing on information whenever the visual questions came up. After the visual was discussed then they would answer as a team.
Principal of Meadowbrook High, Winsome Reid told THE STAR that although Jason is unable to see he has not let it limit him.
"Once I spoke to him and I found out that he is a curious student. I saw him once standing by himself on campus and I asked what he was doing there and he said he was just checking out the place. A teacher once told me that he was explaining something on the board and he did not understand it so he said to the teacher 'sir I do not see what you are talking about'. Sometimes he will say 'I want to see it' too," she said.
To those who are able to see, such a statement would seem nonsensical. But to a blind person, sight is not just physical. Jason explains that what he means is that he wants to be able to understand or relate to what is being discussed.
"It's just my way of saying I want to be able to grasp the information and understand what is being said," he said.
Michael Gonzales, producer of the TVJ Schools' Challenge Quiz Competition said Jason was probably the first blind student to enter the competition and believes both Meadowbrook and Jason should be commended.
"It shows the quiz is open to anybody who is willing to put in the hard work. The school and the young man should be commended for their efforts," he said.
Jason's effort has also made his mother Iona Burnett a proud woman.
"He's very good with his school work so I knew he would be able to handle it. But, when the Salvation Army called me and told me, I was proud. All now I'm still happy. On the day of the match I was jumping and shouting and screaming and the Salvation Army people were happy too," she said.
Jason who wants to be a journalist is confident his team can do well as they put in five hours per training session. He hopes that they can eventually go on to win the competition.
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