Jayde Williams-Priddie
Born in 2003 in London, England of Vincentian and Barbadian Heritage, Jayde emigrated to Canada at 18 months and is part of the Class of 2020 from École secondaire Mont-Bleu in Hull in the Sportetude program in Taekwondo. Jayde will be attending College Universel to study Health Sciences and has been accepted as an Alliance Sport-etude college athlete. This is the first step on her path to realize her dream of becoming a PhD in Neuroscience.
When she is not in school, Jayde is very active as part of the elite competition team at Phoenix Taekwondo Academy in Ottawa. She is the 2019-2020 Junior Girls U63 Ontario Champion and finished 4th at the 2019 Canadian National Championship in the same category. She is currently preparing to become a second degree black belt and teaches younger students. Jayde is also a Duke of Edinburgh Award Silver medalist and is currently working on the Gold level.
Jayde is very active in her church community but also makes time to help an autistic young man improve his reading, comprehension, and verbal communication skills. The 2019-2020 school year was particularly challenging for Jayde as it began with knee surgery at the end of September 2019 and an expected 8 month recovery, with no guarantee that she would be able to continue competing at high level Taekwondo.
Through hard work, determination, the help of family and community, coupled with an unwillingness to hear the words no or can’t, she was ready to return to full training after just 6 months. Even the onset of COVID-19 could not break her stride as she continued to train and teach using Zoom. As things begin to open up and the new normal takes over, I have no doubt that Jayde will continue to be successful and achieve great heights in what ever she chooses to do. Good luck Jayde, we know that you will continue to make both your family and your community very proud.
Submitted by Jill Williams-Priddie