Camille Horth
Polyvalente de Paspébiac

I don’t like school because I find it hard but I have turned it into a personal challenge”. Where many young people would have simply given up, Camille Horth, a Secondary 5 student at the Polyvalente de Paspébiac, decided to overcome the obstacles and fight to succeed. No easy task for someone for whom even kindergarten was hard-going. Diagnosed with an attention deficit when she was in Grade 2, combined with her short-term memory problem, Camille, thanks to her strength of character and the support of family and friends, persevered and even accomplished a tour de force by never repeating a year.

“It’s simple, I already wanted to quit school when I was only in Grade 3,” the finalist in the Persevering Student category calmly asserts. “But thanks to my mom, my grandmother and my friends, I stuck it out and continued to move forward.”

After having succeeded, through perseverance and enormous effort, in completing elementary school, Camille was about to face an even bigger challenge: high school. Luckily for her, the school she was to attend offered a specialized arts concentration program and therefore had all it took to motivate someone with a true passion for the performing arts. Perhaps high school wouldn’t be that bad after all!

“She’s a go-getter,” theatre teacher Nancy Gagnon is quick to point out when describing Camille. “She always works very hard, even more than everyone else, and she always manages to come through. For example, last year she failed both history and science. She therefore decided to retake the courses this year, in addition to all her Secondary 5 classes, and she didn’t even give up any of her extracurricular activities. What’s terrific is that she succeeded!”

Camille spends more than her fair share of time in homework remediation, has a private tutor in mathematics and is accustomed to spending long hours on her homework on weekday evenings as well as on weekends yet stills finds time to take part in all kinds of activities. Among other things, last year she sat on the student council, something that allowed her to build her self-confidence, and this year she is a member of the organizing committee for the graduation party. What’s more, the school administration was very impressed with Camille’s progress and asked her to talk before the Secondary 1 students to raise awareness about academic success, perseverance and respect. “When she gave her presentation, the teaching staff were so moved they had tears in their eyes. Camille is quite simply open, honest and above all touching,” insists Nancy Gagnon.

Camille’s greatest achievement is without doubt the fact that she has succeeded in regaining control of her condition. She has never let her diagnosis or the mockery of others caused by her hesitations or trouble concentrating get her down. She has built an armour that she doesn’t allow anyone to penetrate. Even when she has to ask a question, regardless of how simple it is, Camille has never stopped herself from doing so and just ignores the reactions from those around her. This attitude is much to her credit and bears witness to her great strength of character. “I don’t care if people laugh at me. The things I do, I do them for myself, not for them. My real friends help me and listen to me. They have really been of help.”

As strange as it may seem, Camille’s short-term memory problems have never prevented her from giving great performances when she takes to the stage. For her, acting is easy. She gets right into the role of the characters she portrays and simply lets herself go. “My dream is to become an actress,” she asserts.

While waiting to fulfil this dream, Camille is about to bring another dream to life, that of graduating from high school. College awaits her next year and she will tackle this new challenge thanks to a special integration program that will allow her to get a taste of various fields and find the most appropriate line of work.

“If by chance I don’t become an actress, then I’ll just choose another profession, a profession I’ll enjoy and that will enable me to take my rightful place. It’s not complicated, I’m persistent and I want to succeed,” she concludes with a huge smile.

Camille Horth
Polyvalente de Paspébiac