Inner City Girl School Edition

Colleen Smith-Dennis was born in the parish of St. Elizabeth. As the first of six children she learnt to be responsible at an early age, especially in helping to mentor her three brothers and two sisters.

Growing up in a large family had its share of challenges but the love for God and a caring, sharing spirit were established in this very closely-knitted family and so the seemingly insurmountable problems of illness and economics were dealt with.

At an early age, reading became a passion for the author. Her mother (a past basic school teacher) had quite a number of study and reading texts around the house and the author would spend time reading the ones she could. She joined the school and public libraries and spent much time reading late into the night. Her other areas of interest were drama and netball.

After attending secondary school, she completed a year of Youth Service at the primary school in her community and then went on to the Bethlehem Teachers College in the parish. At college, she specialized in the teaching of English at the secondary level. Following the three years of teacher’s college, she taught English Language at Maggotty High, her alma mater.