Lekeia is looking forward to her fifth year at Whitney Institute where she was the managing director of the school's Young Enterprise Programme this year.

Young Enterprise is an Islandwide programme where students come together in school teams to create and operate their own company. Lekeia headed Whitney's company called "Going to Extreme''.

She said she loved the experience. And Stephanie Smith from Jones Waddington Ltd. who sponsored the Whitney team said the students did better than ever this year.

With Lekeia's leadership the company made enough money to make a significant donation to World Vision.

The ambitious student said: "It was really difficult at first -- we all had to agree on a topic and things to make and sell.'' After the completion of the programme the students had the opportunity of taking the Oxford University Exam which tested them on the business skills they had learned while relating their own personal experience managing their businesses.

Lekeia took the exam and said that she "aced it''. She was one of four students who passed.

Describing herself as outgoing and easygoing, Lekeia confesses: "I want to be famous''.

Her other interests include majorettes and a secret passion for singing.

Lekeia's favourite subjects in school are geography and math and she is making plans for college after her graduation.

"I hope to go to either Florida or Canada to study psychology,'' she said.

"I like psychology because it is interesting to me.'' Speaking of psychology, Lekeia said she believed the biggest problem Bermuda's youth faced today was a lack of things to do.

This, she said, was why "we are getting in so much trouble''.

Lekeia said she believed a good solution would be to open a mall or an amusement park on the base lands to give young people a place to hang out.

The teenager also expressed a concern for the reputation of her school.

She noted that many people had a negative bias toward students from Whitney.

Stressing that this was unfair, Lekeia said: "People don't look for the good qualities that Whitney has. They judge the whole school based on ten people.

"But there are a lot of ambitious students at Whitney. There are kids there that are really going to go somewhere in the world.'' When asked if she thought she was one of those young persons going places she replied: "Definitely!'' Lekeia's favourite teachers include her geography teacher Andrew Fields because she loved the way that he "really teaches; he expresses things''.

She said she also admired her American literature teacher Emily Gail Dill.

"She takes time out for me and believes in me,'' Lekeia explained.

But she said if she had the opportunity to meet anyone in the world, it would be Orlando Magic basketball player Penny Hardaway because she admired him and the game.

DAINA CASLING