Name: Aymara Albury

Age: 21

School: Senior at The University of Alabama

Major: Chemistry with a minor in Biology

High School: St Augustine's College Class of 2002

Academically outstanding, athletically, she's one of the best. Yes, Aymara Albury is proof that you can marry academics and athletics and excel at both.

Five years ago, the 21-year-old senior at The University of Alabama undertook a daunting course of study, with her sights set on obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry with a minor in biology, while competing as a thrower for the Roll Tide.

And now that she's set to leave the institution in approximately two months, with her undergraduate degree, Aymara waved the banner high that The Bahamas has smart kids, with a cumulative 3.631 Grade Point Average.

But to hear Aymara tell it, being a smart kid was not at all something easy, but something she had to learn to be.

"I was not always a smart child, or should I say I never applied myself when I was young," said the 2002 graduate of St Augustine's College. "I preferred to do everything else but school work," she says. As a matter of fact, she recalls reports from her early school days in Queen's College's Early Learning Centre (ELC), where her teachers wrote that she slept at inappropriate times during the day, and did not like to practice reading or writing, and that all she seemed to prefer to do was draw.

But with both her parents, Preston and Celestine, educators, and a school – Preston Albury – named after her grandfather, a former educator, in Eleuthera, you just know that sooner or later, Aymara had to settle down. She says she's still not certain whether she grew out of the phase, or whether to give all the credit to Ms Allen, her second grade teacher.

"Whenever I did not do my work or I did it and it was messy she would erase it all and I would have to start over and not have any playtime like the other kids," she recalls. "Not only was she my teacher, she was also my Brownie leader so she spent a lot of time trying to whip me into shape and getting me to apply myself," Aymara recalls.

Her dad she says also taught her to play card games and backgammon while she was only in third grade using the games as a way to work on her mathematics skills, while her mother helped her with her reading and writing.

"With help from Ms Allen and my parents, coupled with the discipline and time management skills that I eventually learned from being an athlete I was able to develop into a very intelligent and successful individual on and off the field. And as time went on and I got older, I began to take more responsibility for myself and my work," says the smart kid.

But Aymara admits that it was not a 360 degree turn overnight. She admits that applying herself was hard in the beginning but eventually got easier. She also says there were times when she did not do well, and suffered when her parents punished her by taking away things she enjoyed, and she would have to redo the task until she got it right.

After a while she says she began to realize that it was simply easier to do things right the first time.

"The biggest part of my academic success once I was in high school and even now that I am in college was the use of an organizer/daily planner. Having one of these made it very easy to keep track of assignments, test, practice, community service and extra-curricular activities," she says. "I found that taking the time at the end of every class to write down what I needed to do would save me almost a half hour at night trying to remember everything and then come to find out the next day that I still forgot something. Also having goals and knowing what I wanted to achieve made it easier for me to apply myself and be more dedicated," she says.

As far as Aymara is concerned, organization, goal-setting, support and dedication are all the tools that every youngster needs to be a smart kid, and to be successful in school and life.

"Mastering these skills have allowed me to receive my diploma from SAC, and now I am preparing to graduate in May with my Bachelor's in Chemistry and will begin my Mastersā in Chemistry in August 2007, at the University of Alabama," says Albury who thanks her parents, sister, Acchia, aunts, uncles and all of her other family members, teachers, coaches and friends that played a part in shaping her into the smart kid that she is today.

And not to be forgotten of course is the fact that Aymara did well academically, while competing at a high level in athletics . As a high school student coached by Bradley Cooper, the thrower was a member of the 2001 World Youth Championships squad, as well as the CARIFTA track and field squads in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. And in 2004, she was also a member of the World Junior Championships squad. Aymara also represented the country on the CARIFTA swim squad. In 2003, she earned a spot on the Junior Pan American Games squad as well as the Senior Pan American team, and the Senior Central American and Caribbean teams.

In 2004, Aymara was also named the Bahamas Association of Athletics Associations Junior Female Athlete of the Year.

At the collegiate level, she captured numerous Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles NCAA performances, and set records for the Roll Tide. But one achievement Aymara is definitely proud of, and that is of course holding the title of national shot put record holder.