I caught up with Adrian Nembhard at the Dedication Ceremony of the Multipurpose Building on the Melbourne campus on Friday October 24, 2008.
I couldn't resist interviewing him for a profile article, because master of ceremony of the function Churchill Neita, identified him amongst the audience as one of KC’s most distinguished scholars as told by senator Anthony Johnson in his seminal “ History of Kingston College 1925-2007”.
Born August 21, 1984, the Dunkirk scholar entered the hallowed portals of Kingston College fresh out of Franklin Town Primary in the Michaelmas term of 1995.
Rev. Abner Powell recalled that Adrian Nembhard was always head of the class from 1st straight through to sixth form, capturing all the major prizes at prize giving and graduation ceremonies. He had a passion for excellence and Nembhard himself fondly reminisced that KC gave him his first pay cheque – a princely sum of $1,500 for placing 1st in first form. Nembhard became headboy in 2002 and in that same year was awarded the Centenary Scholarship having attained GCE ‘A’ Level in Physics, Maths and placing 4th in the world in Technical Drawing.
When he left for UWI’s St Augustine, Trinidad, campus in 2002, many old Boys, particularly those of the overseas chapters, ensured that enough money was in the freshman’s savings account that would see him comfortably through his three-year study.
Canada Hall was his hall of residence and in his final year Nembhard got caught up in student politics and was elected President of the Jamaica Students’ Association. This diverted his attention somewhat but his brilliance saw him through to attain a BSc degree with upper second-class honours in Mechanical Engineer in 2005.
Today the 24-year-old scholar, who still lives with his parents in Dunkirk, commutes daily to his job at the alumina refinery, Jamalco in Clarendon. He still sings in the church choir of Bethel United Apostolic Church. He has been provisionally accepted, subject to funding, by the University of Maryland to pursue an MSc degree in Reliability Engineering.
Nembhard lists playing of football and motor sports among his hobbies.
