PAUL ROSSI RAMPERSAD Date of Birth: 11th July 1982
I consider myself to be a simple person. From a humble up bringing I have tried to keep humble in my daily living. I love the outdoors and enjoy hiking when time permits. I am quite social and enjoy the company of good friends and family.
At the age of 23 I started on my journey of becoming a teacher, a job which for some years before I knew I wanted to do. After working in accounts for two years previous to my teacher training I felt everyday that I wanted to achieve much more that I was doing. The monotonous task of crunching numbers failed to satisfy my passions which see my soul wanting to reach out to others and make a real difference in the world. For me teaching is as one of my lecturers puts it “A work of Heart” and this being the case I believe you really need to be called to this profession.
I thoroughly enjoy working with young people and have had the privilege of being a member on a national Board within the Presbyterian Church which works along with youths. Being part of the “Board of Youth Affairs (BOYA)” I was exposed to many young persons from around the country and this exposure further encouraged me to follow my dreams of teaching after interaction the various complexities of problems which young people face today. I found myself becoming a big brother, uncle, and father and have even been dubbed grandfather by some because of the support I willingly give. To me the true test of this life is giving oneself to service in one form or another.
As simple as it is simple listening to someone and expressing kind words will go a long way in someone’s life. It however takes a selfless person to be able to do such tasks effectively and as such it is my goal to foster this example for the world to see. The world is becoming a place where the leading ideology is that we all need to learn to be independent, but I believe that we need to be interdependent. After all we live in a social world and not in isolation. I try my best to live my life by this ideology and as such seek to pass on some of my beliefs by modelling such behaviour.
I carry my ideology of effective living into teaching and see the teacher a force of change and inspiration. I consider my task therefore not as a simple one but as a challenge. It is a challenge I am up for since I know that to even touch one life is touching the stars and achieving much.
There are many saying which I live by but I would love to highlight two. Firstly “what is good for one is good for all.” for me this means that favouritism should not be the way this world is run. Each person should be able to achieve their due by merit of their deeds. The application of this in my teaching career will be to harness the skills of all my students without giving favour to the bright only. Also if grace is extended for one, it must be extended for all. Secondly, “we live in a world of want, but there are so many that need.” I think if we all internalise this our lives would be lived with a difference. We would be mindful to consider others and their needs before we judge. We would consider others before we step over them. We would be content in having life and being able to share a smile, a word of encouragement and ourselves with the rest of the world in whatever little way we can.