This Week We Feature Young Professional Deondre S. Rymer
Still in the prime of his youth at the age of 19, our Young Professional for this week takes pride in being the first to be featured for the calendar year of 2015 as he wishes to impress on his fellow youths to take advantage of their youthful years to be the change they want to see in the world.
Deondre S. Rymer is a Customer Service Representative/Teller at CIBC First Caribbean Bank where he has been working since March 17, 2014. While one may wonder why plunge into the world of work at such an early age, Rymer said it was a conscious decision of his as he charters the course of his professional career along the path towards his dream profession.
“I Graduated from the Bregado Flax Educational Centre (Secondary Division) in 2012 with a Grade 1 with Honors [and] also achieving a scholarship. My favourite subjects were Accounts, Principles of Business and Technical Drawing.”
Today he is a student at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College and is well poised for graduation around mid-year. He is currently doing general studies in Architecture and Engineering.
“I initially intended to go straight from High School to University but things didn’t go as planned, life changed a little bit so I decided to grab some work experience, start my tertiary studying at the college, with some cash of my own in hand I then moved on to studying in the UK to pursue my real career passion,” he said.
“My dream job is to really be a quantity surveyor.” Rymer said that a few years ago he had a “father and son talk” with his father Mr Franklyn Rymer who was able to sit with him and discuss some of the main professions needed in the Virgin Islands (VI).
“That’s why I decided to look into that kind of field and I was always interested in the whole construction/architecture kind of stuff and dad showed me that there is a slim margin of persons in the BVI doing that kind of stuff… it really started out with me wanting to be a land surveyor but then I did some research and I am a guy of numbers and that’s how I turned to quantity surveying.”
His mother is Ms Mavis Dixon and he describes his parents as “wonderful”.
When not in the books studying and away from the desk at his job, one can be sure to find our Young Professional doing a number of things, including being engaged in community service activities – he is a Rotaractor, or playing basketball – “I am a man of sports, I love playing basketball,” he said. He can also be found connecting with nature out in the open sea.
“From a little boy I can remember taking every opportunity to run down to the basketball court. We played basketball, in the morning, we played basketball at recess, we played basketball right after school, every opportunity I had growing up as a boy was spent playing basketball,” he recalled.
Rymer said he can recall being part of a junior national team that played internationally. “There was one time I was even considering basketball as a career but then the thought of what one injury can do to you, how it can end such a career for a person I decided nah.”
“I'm a member of the Rotaract Club of Virgin Gorda, which I can firmly say has changed my life. Before Rotaract I can say I was a different person but fellowshipping with so many different people has opened my eyes to a lot and they are now like a whole new family to me now. They are people at all levels that you can turn to for advice, assistance, almost anything… I love Rotaract,” he said.
“It’s that involvement with Rotaract that I would always encourage persons to try and come out and do something for the community because at the end of the day it’s a good feeling,” he added.
In talking about his advice to young people, he said, “I have this saying that I carry with me, everything earned is not given. You need to push for what you want, it may seem real hard at the beginning but then you know when you reach that point it’s a very good feeling to know that you earned it through dedication, perseverance, commitment and hard work.”
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