Move in silence and let your success be your noise.

This is the life philosophy of Kimika Jackson, head girl at Berkeley Institute and a dual-enrolment student at Bermuda College.

A skilled footballer and ardent debater, her passion for mathematics led her to focus on courses in actuarial science.

But the 17-year-old credits the Mirrors programme for her arguably innate ability to achieve her goals.

She completed the “Coaching for Success” programme while at Sandys Middle School and said it helped her find an “essential” balance between her social and academic lives.

“I was able to set a plan in what I wanted to do in order to accomplish any academic and personal goals,” she told The Royal Gazette. “It allowed me to visualise the steps I needed to take.”

Miss Jackson serves in the youth parliament where she is currently acting as deputy speaker. In previous terms she was deputy premier.

She said “We deal with topics that directly and indirectly face the youth.

“We debate anything that we feel is relevant and serves a purpose and we discuss and come up with solutions to problems that we face.”

Miss Jackson already has a longstanding history in oratory. She was introduced to debating at 7 years old while at Dalton E Tucker School and has travelled to Singapore, Chile and California with the national debate team. She also takes part in the annual competition between Bermuda schools.

“I got to experience a totally different culture and meet many new people,” she said of a competition between young people from more than 50 countries. “Through debate I was able to see how different countries build their own strategies.”

Miss Jackson has also been nominated for Teen Services’ Outstanding Teen Awards. They will announce the winner in February.

She admitted that balancing the work is often difficult. She said: “Everything becomes overwhelming and it’s very important to find that balance so you’re able to not only enjoy school but also yourself and your life because without that balance it’s tough.

“And it’s essential to find that balance in order to be successful.”

Her mother, Kim Jackson, is the programme coordinator at Mirrors and described her daughter as “very driven”.

“We’re very proud of her, not just because of the goals she accomplishes but because you can see her going after them. She works to accomplish them.”

“Her philosophy of life is ‘Move in silence and let your success be your noise’. We watch her live that.”

The mother of two said her daughter is a natural leader, both socially and academically.

“She recognised for herself that young people don’t take the resource of education seriously, and so she began to live her life in accomplishing that for herself and sharing it with others, so that they can reach their potential,” she said, observing that Miss Jackson is very encouraging of her peers.

She said her daughter has a diverse group of friends, which she ascribes to her travels with the debate team.

“I’m an old-school parent and the Mirrors model has made me look at 21st-century children and allowed me to develop their problem-solving skills and build relationships where we talk about anything,” she said, adding: “That has facilitated the type of relationship we have.”