Linstead Native, Jevaughn Gordon, Graduates With First Class Honours
November 7, 2022
Jevaughn Gordon graduated from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, last week Saturday with first class honours – the highest quality degree attainable.
His achievement was foreshadowed by his permanent presence on the Dean’s Honour Roll throughout the six semesters or three years that he was enrolled at the Caribbean School of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), which falls under the Faculty of Humanities and Education.
Rounding out his sojourn through UWI with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.82, Gordon obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communication. He also attained an International Relations minor.
Notwithstanding his track record of academic excellence, the native of Princessfield district in Linstead, St Catherine, said the first class honours feels “kinda surreal”.
His mother died when he was in third form at St Jago High, but the Ewarton Primary alumnus mustered enough courage to earn his stripes in leadership and academics. In this photo, he wears his UWI graduation gown with pride.
He didn’t start university with it in mind, he noted. “I just wanted to do well.”
Gordon told The Beacon that he began to seriously consider the quality of the degree he wanted after he settled in on the university’s Elsa Leo-Rhynie Hall.
“They told me [on the hall] that it is very important for me to set goals in place, and that is when I took goal-setting really seriously. And I said, ‘Okay, I want first class honours; I want to be on the Dean’s List every semester and I want to make an impact throughout the school’,” he explained.
With goals more clearly defined in his mind, not even the rigours of one of the world’s most dreadful pandemics (COVID-19) could have derailed the former deputy head boy of St Jago High School.
The pandemic, among other things, forced the cancellation of face-to-face classes for two full years.
Jevaughn Gordon at his Ewarton Primary graduation in 2012.
“I got one semester of face-to-face classes and, after that we went straight online for classes. And that wasn’t easy; that was very hard,” Gordon reflected. “I had to re-group and see how I could put all of those face-to-face inclinations that I had into an online format… I had to put extra work in.”
In addition to living up to his billing as an academic wizard, Gordon managed to earn his stripes in leadership on his hall of residence, his faculty, and the university’s Guild of Students.
During his two-year stint on the guild, he served as Public Relations Officer as well as representative of the Faculty of Humanities and Education.
Gordon was also a member of the UWI Debating Society who participated in intra-campus debates as well as those that were inter-collegiate. He is also a member of the Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students.
Don’t be fooled by his academic success and accolades, Jevaughn Gordon knows how to have a good time. He advised other young people to never allow themselves to be limited by scarcity of resources.
“After getting my academic work out of the way, then I could do anything else,” he said, noting that he tried to fulfill his various duties by using a strict schedule.
Gordon is now a resident advisor on Elsa Leo-Rhynie Hall and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Communication for Social and Behaviour Change.
He also works with the RJR-GLEANER Communications Group as producer of programmes such as Beyond The Headlines on RJR Radio and All Angles on TVJ. He also co-hosts the GenZed show on TVJ.
Although marketing and communications are his forte, Gordon is not ruling out the possibility of making his name in representational politics. “I am not ruling that out; I am still interested in representational politics,” he told The Beacon.
In this 2019 photograph, Jevaughn Gordon dons his St Jago High School graduation gown. He served that school as deputy head boy and left there with 18 CXC subjects.
He advised other young people in Linstead and elsewhere to not allow the scarcity of resources to prevent them from dreaming big and venturing outside their comfort zones to actualize their dreams.
“There is a way out; there is a way in which you can achieve your dreams,” he asserted. “Don’t get disappointed and waivered by your current situation, but continue to strive and do better at whatever you do.”
That’s indeed sage advice from a youngster who, despite his mom dying of an illness while he was in third form at St Jago, went on to stand tall in academics and leadership.
He had been creating waves even before setting foot in UWI.
While at St Jago High School, the scholar attained 10 CSEC and eight CAPE subjects from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC). In 2018, CXC declared him the Caribbean’s top performer in CAPE Sociology (Unit One).
In terms of leadership prior to UWI, Gordon, a past student of Ewarton Primary School, did not only serve as deputy head boy at St Jago High. He was also Junior Mayor for the parish of St Catherine (2018-2019).
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