Edmeiko Butterfield is living proof of what can happen when God transforms your life.

As a young person he struggled with his grades and believed he was “dumb”. It got so bad, he was told he wouldn’t graduate from high school unless he repeated a year.

“I was failing in practically every class,” Mr Butterfield said. “In my third year at CedarBridge Academy my GPA was 1.3.

“And at that point in my life, if someone would have said I would one day go to college, I would have told them ‘Yeah right, I’ll never make it’.”

Mr Butterfield’s life started to change once his mother, Malisa Butterfield, sent him to boarding school at Maine Central Institute.

He benefited from the strict study schedule and extra support from his teachers.

But it was also during this time he developed a stronger faith in God.

“My faith kicked in once I was in my second year of boarding school,” the 27-year-old said.

“I grew up in the church. My mother would always send me to Sunday school with my granny, so I grew up learning about Jesus and all that He had done for me.

“But there came a time when in my last year of boarding school when I realised I really needed Him in my life.

“I was sitting in my dorm room and just remember thinking, ‘There has to be more to life than just the same old, same old. There has to be more to life than girls and hanging out with friends’.

“My grades were still not great. I was away from my family and in a little state of depression because I was in the middle of nowhere and had lots of time to think. That’s when I really formed my own personal relationship with Christ.”

He called him mom during that low period — and she prayed with him. After that he gave his heart to the Lord.

“From then on I started looking into Christianity for myself,” Mr Butterfield said. “It felt great truthfully and for me it was like, ‘I’m becoming a man now’.

“When you’re young your parents can make you go to church or Sunday school, but my mom couldn’t go to heaven for me and help me to get in. That’s something a person has to do for themselves.”

His attitude, as well as his grades, started to improve.

He would wake up in the morning and life just seemed to be better.

He also realised he’d been his own worst enemy and hadn’t been putting in the time and effort necessary to excel in his course work.

It didn’t take long for his peers and teachers to start noticing the changes as well.

“People used to come knock on my door and asked me to pray for them,” Mr Butterfield said. “People wanted to know why I was so happy all the time.”

One teacher in particular made a big impact on his life.

The teacher gave Mr Butterfield a challenging assignment — he had to research a topic then write a ten-page paper on it. The grade would determine if he passed or failed the course. “I was really stressing out about the assignment to be honest,” Mr Butterfield said.

“But my teacher believed I could do it and gave me different ideas on what to write about.

“Yet after doing everything he said I still only had eight pages on my topic: teens in Bermuda. The assignment was due that day. I got frustrated and really emotional because it was worth the whole mark for the year.

“Then when I handed it in my teacher confessed that I was the only one he has asked to do ten pages, everyone else only did three.”

That experience helped Mr Butterfield start to see his true academic potential.

Today the father-of-one is a counsellor at Whitney Institute Middle School.

He not only has a bachelor’s degree in social work, but also a master’s in counselling.

He knows he couldn’t have reached this place without God.

“God was my strength,” he said. “When I was stressed out in one of my classes I would just talk to Him. Or if I had a test and just didn’t know the answer I would say a little prayer. And believe it or not, He always just made a way for me.”

When he graduated last year with his master’s degree from the University of Nottingham, Mr Butterfield said it was one of the happiest moments of his life.

“If you would have asked me in middle or high school if I would get a master’s, I would have said ‘no way’,” he said.

“I thought I was dumb and wouldn’t accomplish anything with my life, but God really did turn things around for me.”

His advice to any young person is it’s never too late to change. “Yes, you will have to sacrifice a lot,” he said. “You may feel a pinch, punch or a kick, but it’s really your choice how far you go in life.”