Exceeding the odds

St. Charles girl persevered through parents’ deaths, graduated with honors

Jamie Price is an exceptional student. She just graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hahnville High School and is majoring in business at Nicholls State University in the fall. She has a jumpstart to college with a job at Motiva and saved enough money to buy herself a car.

But Price is hesitant to discuss what she has had to overcome in order to succeed in her young life. Unlike other high school students who graduated with honors and received scholarships, Price has had to deal with switching schools and homes, living with a house full of her younger cousins and balancing two jobs to buy a car because she was orphaned at the age of 14.

“She has a hard time bragging about herself,” said Rica Soudelier, her aunt. “I have to tell her it’s okay to let people know about the situation, but just don’t use it as a crutch.”

Price’s mother died of cancer when Price was 10 years old and her father passed away four years later because of complications due to blood clotting. But her entire extended family stepped in to make sure that she and her younger brother, Ronnie, did not miss out on any opportunities.

“My family was there to help me do what (my parents) would have helped me do,” Price said. “They opened their arms to me.”

Price has been living with an aunt and uncle and their five children – ages 4 to 18 – in Bayou Gauche for the last few years. She said it was often a challenge to find some quiet, alone time to study and keep up her grades.

“It was definitely hard to find time to study,” she said. “Sometimes I would have to stay up late until they had gone to bed…or I would study at work during my extra time.”

Although a large family sometimes got in the way of studying, she said that every member has helped her throughout high school and she hopes to use her experience to travel around the world and help others.

“I have been blessed with family and friends to help me become the person I am today, and I feel like it is my goal to help others attain their goals,” she said.

While she lives with much of her extended family, she said she has not spent a single day with her brother and two half sisters all together in seven years.

“Since the death of our mother, there has never been a day where all my siblings and I have spent a full day together,” Price said. “All of us live in separate homes, making it nearly impossible for us to see each other every month. Because my sisters have jobs and my brother is still in junior high, we cannot find time where all of us are free.”

She said that her idea of a perfect day would be to spend it with her three siblings.

Price is headed to Nicholls State this fall with over $5,000 in scholarships and a car she works two jobs to pay for. For now, she is working and saving as much money as she can before leaving for school.

“My expenses during my years in college will be my sole responsibility and an education is not cheap,” she said. “But I also recognize that a college education is the key to my future success.”

While she faced more challenges than an average student, she is still keeping a positive outlook.

“It has not been the easiest way of life, but it is a better life than many children experience,” she said. “I would rather honor my parents by working hard, being positive and becoming a successful adult.

“I believe that I have made the best of a challenging situation and I am a stronger person for that.”

Price said her goal now is to succeed at college and become a good role model for her younger brother.

She hopes other people who are struggling in their home life will take a lesson from her story.

“Don’t use what’s at home as a crutch – you make your own life,” she said. “If you want to do good, you will do good.”