Jamaica's young star sprint star Veronica Campbell is on a track and field scholarship in the United States (US). Campbell, 19, who took up the scholarship in late August, is attending Barton Community College where she's settling "alright", says Partrick Johnson, her former Vere Technical coach.

Johnson says he spoke to her several weeks ago: "She's alright. She's alright. She has her roommate (and former Vere quartermiler) Shellene Williams with her," he says. Sprinter Shereefa Lloyd, another Vere athlete, is attending a private institution in the US, Johnson notes.

Campbell, who has starred on the local and international levels, is still nursing a hamstring injury which ruled her out of the recent World Championships in Edmonton, Canada. However, Johnson says he is confident that Campbell will persevere. "Veronica is natural gift. The coach doesn't have to do much."

Campbell, who won a silver medal in the sprint relay at the Olympics in Sydney, Australia last year, recently passed Mathematics and English at the CXC O'Levels. She also has Accounts (grade 3), Social Studies (3), Principles of Business (2) and Office Procedures (2). She repeated fifth form this past school year to garner several more subjects and to continue burning up the track. However, the curtains came down on her stellar high school career last month when she helped Vere to a second place finish in the high schools 4x100m Championship of Americas finals at the 107th Penn Relays in the US.

In an interview with Youth Link in May, Campbell said: "I achieved a lot...the school made me into the person I am now. I'm going to miss Vere." She noted that 'just about everybody' at the institution has played a major role in her academic and athletic development.

President of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), Patrick Anderson, hopes that Campbell will follow his advice. "Well, I always tell them that there's life after track and field ­ get an education," says the president. Anderson singles out Deon Hemmings as an example of his advice. Hemmings, the 1996 400-metre gold medallist, is also a licensed real estate agent in Texas, says Anderson.

Apart from track and field, Campbell said she's hoping to pursue a career in either business or teaching.

Merrick Andrews
Youth Writer