Spiritual Emphasis Award recipient Shahidah Jahmeelah Shamsid-Deen proves that.

She plays netball and basketball and also likes to dance during her free time.

She also enjoys doing gymnastics. On Saturdays she helps out at Warwick Secondary School with gymnastic classes.

She is on the honour roll and has won the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award, an Outward Bound Shield and the Denton Hurdle Award.

"I have a lot of faith in God and I care more about others then I care about myself,'' the 17-year-old said.

Shahidah, or She as her friends call her, is in the eleventh grade at Bermuda Institute. Her favourite class in school is Bible Studies.

Her favourite type of music is Rhythm & Blues but she enjoys listening to a variety of music, except for country and heavy metal.

Her favourite television show is The Young and the Restless. "Once this goes off, the TV goes off,'' she says.

Shahidah's favourite foods are rice and fish, vegetables, lamb, and fruit, especially oranges.

She has two brothers Gladwin and Kareem and three sisters Oneka, Natalina and Makese. She has a cat, Precious, and a dog, Sparky.

Shahidah says she would most like to meet Warfedeen Mahammad because he is the leader of the Nation of Islam in Bermuda.

If she had a plane ticket to anywhere in the world Shahidah would go to the Moslem shrine, Mecca. "Once in a lifetime a Moslem should make a pilgrimage to Mecca called Haj,'' Shahidah says.

She also believes that society's biggest problem is a lack of respect.

"Parents need to teach their children how to respect God, themselves, their parents, and others,'' she stresses. "This would cut down on the violence and drugs, Bermuda would be a better place as a result.'' She believes that Government should build community centres for the youth.

People would meet to play games, such as football, to dance, and for other activities. They would put on programmes for the public to help attract more people to the centres. She said for the centres to be successful they would need to be placed in good areas where the people could feel safe.

Shahidah does not envisage a pretty picture for Bermuda in 15 years if the violence does not stop.

"I hope and pray that the violence does stop so that the children will have a better future,'' she says, adding that she is thankful to her mother for raising her the way she did and for teaching her to be respectful.

INTERVIEW BY KRISTY WARREN SHAHIDAH SHAMSID-DEEN