LeJayah Patterson

Meridian sixth-grader LeJayah Patterson is proud of her spot on the school’s High Honors Roll, a spot that she has held for a while now. She intends to stay on that trajectory so that she has lots of options in life. It’s a ways off, but she already has a dream job, and it’s an unusual one for rural Illinois — she wants to be a veterinarian who works with exotic animal species. That career aspiration fits with her dream destination to live as a grown-up: Miami, Florida. She has a particular interest in reptiles and lions — brave young woman!

We talk about what it would take to get from where she is now to that dream, and challenge her by asking: “Do you think you could continue to get straight As for the rest of middle and high school?” LeJayah did not hesitate to give a resounding “Yes!” Math can be one of the hardest subjects for teachers to teach well, and for students to master. LeJayah loves math, does really well in it, and praises her teacher Mr. Andrews.

LeJayah’s day-to-day life is filled with studying, sports, friends, and family. She likes that everyone is friendly at Meridian. She thinks her friends would describe her as kind of goofy because, well, she is! She also thinks they would say that she is a loyal friend who is always there for them. That is high praise and a super important quality in friendship, work, and life.

LeJayah plays three sports at Meridian: basketball, volleyball, and softball. Basketball is her favorite. She has been playing it since second grade and likes the fact that it forces you to make quick, strategic decisions on the court. She has remained committed to basketball even after suffering a scary hip injury that required surgery. During a dive for the ball, she collided with another player and fell, with the other player landing on LeJayah’s hip. The impact was enough to do serious damage, and her parents had to drive her to the hospital in St. Louis for emergency surgery. It took some time to recover and regain her strength and mobility. Luckily, LeJayah is 100% now. This experience indicates to us that this young woman has tenacity and grit; she will persevere to get to where she wants to go in life.

LeJayah sees basketball continuing to play a big part in her life. In fact, she expects to play through high school and into college. Miami is on her radar as a future home, partly because they have a great women’s basketball team. The University of Miami Hurricanes are a Division One school and one of the top women’s college basketball teams in the country. They offer athletic scholarships to recruit the best players from around the country. LeJayah once visited Miami and saw a game. She was very impressed, calling the players “the queens of the court.” We can imagine LeJayah being one of those queens someday!