St. John resident Raven Phillips, 14, is off to a good start with her plans for a career as a psychologist.
“I take my school work very seriously. It’s very important to me,” she said.
Phillips takes honors algebra, junior composition, physical science, and V.I. history along with instrumental lab and principals of technology as electives.
She also got a leg up on her future by participating during the summer in the Coral Bay Job Club.
“We learned lots of useful things, like how to answer important interview questions,” she said.
That ability landed her a job as hostess at the Lime Inn Restaurant, where she works Friday nights telling customers about the specials, delivering the baskets of bread and making sure the tablecloths and napkins are freshly laundered.
It’s a learning experience, and Raven said she’s learned that hard work always pays off.
Bonny Corbeil, who ran the Job Club program, said Raven was a shining star who exuded confidence and leadership abilities.
“She set the level of standards for other kids to follow and she helped ignite confidence in the other kids,” Corbeil said.
A St. Petersburg, Fla., native, she moved to St. John from Rochester, N.Y. two years ago. The family – mother Pamela Love, father Dallas Love and brother Derrick, 17 – decided to head south after her mother fell in love with the St. Thomas while on a cruise. Her mother picked St. John as the place to call home.
The move was also a learning experience. Raven found a slower pace, the need to make new friends and that she didn’t always quite understand what people said when they were speaking to her.
“I had a hard time adjusting to island life but I found my own little place,” she said.
That place includes family, friends and neighbors, and Raven said she now loves living on St. John.
Her mother is very proud of her daughter.
“She’s an amazing student – disciplined and focused,” Love said.
Raven has a busy life. After spending two years attending Julius E. Sprauve School in Cruz Bay, she’s now on the school bus at 6 a.m. to catch the 7 a.m. ferry from Cruz Bay to Red Hook, St. Thomas. She returns home around 4:30 or 5 p.m., staying up until at least 10 p.m. to complete her homework.
School is very different than it was back in Rochester. Raven said that for starters she studies V.I. history. She’s amazed that history classes at Joseph C. Wilson Magnet School in Rochester didn’t at least touch on it.
“It was one of the first places to have a successful slave revolt and set the slaves free,” she said, referring to the 1733 slave revolt on St. John and the 1848 emancipation.
When she’s not busy with school or her job, she spends time listening to pop, rock and classical music.
“But not country,” she said.
She’s also an avid reader of mystery and “graphic” novels. She explained that they’re a bit like comics but much more complex.
“And I like to hang out with my friends,” she said.
