Helping others to believe in themselves has been a personal mission for Jordan Simmons-Trott, the freshly graduated head boy of CedarBridge Academy.

Now Jordan, 18, is headed off to further his education in the hope of returning home to teach at his alma mater.

“I used to keep to myself,” Jordan told The Royal Gazette. “It wasn’t until I got up to CedarBridge that I noticed there were some of my peers who were a bit lost.”

Conscious of CedarBridge as something of an underdog, Jordan saw that some of his fellow students were “more focused on surviving — education was the last thing on their minds”.

“I took the initiative in S1 to do something about it. I’d had a gift for helping that I had kept for myself.”

Small gestures such as Bible studies with other students before their physics class helped to make a difference in other people’s lives, he said. In particular, Jordan went on to mentor eight young men at the school.

Whether it was students skipping classes, insulting their teachers or bullying other young people because they came from different parts of the island, Jordan learnt that by treating others with respect he could help them to succeed.

“During my last year it was incredible, going up to someone twice my size who was being disrespectful and telling him to stop — not being controlling, just trying to give that little push in the right direction,” he said.

“Once someone finds it in themselves, anything is possible.

“It helps if you know that someone genuinely cares for you.

“Sometimes it hasn’t worked out for the better.

“There was one person I had to leave alone — he wasn’t ready.

“I had to learn ‘to each their own’. I have learnt to back away sometimes. At the end of the day, it’s their lives and it’s their battle.”

His spiritual beliefs, honed at the Cornerstone Bible Fellowship, have been a core part of Jordan’s character.

“God blessed me with the ability to talk to people.

“I’m not into sport. However, I am an avid musician.”

The trombone and now the bagpipes are sources of “joy”, he said.

Heading off soon to college at Mount Allison University in Canada, Jordan said he was inclined to return home as a professor of English, to teach in Bermuda College or back in CedarBridge.

He will be away from his mother, Marie Simmons, father Kenny Trott and sisters Jada and Mya, but Jordan said he can’t wait to go.

“I am so looking forward to it. The next chapter of my life I await with open arms. We shall see where it goes from there.”