“If you want to do something, just do it. It does not matter where you come from: your dreams are important. It is also very important to imagine your best self and show up as that person.”

That was the advice of Jacqueline Adams, who was admitted to the bar on July 23 at the age of 70.

“It was a very exciting day for me. I didn’t feel the excitement before, but on the day I felt very thankful to God, very thankful to my family, thankful to the lawyer who helped me through my legal internship. It was just a lovely day and a lovely feeling – a feeling of thankfulness.”

Another exciting day for her was July 26 when she went to the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain to sign the oath book and receive her practising certificate.

Adams's dream began in 2008 when she had a case in court.

“I was before the magistrate, Nalini Singh. And just looking at her and how she conducted her business, I said to myself, ‘But Jacqui, you should be up there!’

"At the same time my daughter, Vonetta, was in law school. The combination of those two things started a fire within me and I decided to go for it after I retired.”

Born on Quarry Street in Port of Spain, Adams grew up in Barataria and later moved to Trincity, where she now lives.

[caption id="attachment_904550" align="alignnone" width="911"] Since she got her certificate to practise law, Jacqueline Adams has served as an instructing attorney in a case during a virtual hearing. - PHOTO BY SUREASH CHOLAI[/caption]

The second of eight children in the Felice family, she knew she wanted to be a teacher from the age of five. Both her parents were teachers and they would come home and tell their children stories about their classes and students. And when their children grew older, they allowed them to help them correct their students' schoolwork.

“I just felt it in my spirit. There’s nothing that said to me, ‘You will be a teacher because...’ It’s just something I knew that I had to do and I just loved it from the get-go.”

Knowing what she wanted, she did not do A-Levels after attending St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain. Instead, she went straight into teaching from the age of 17 at Tunapuna Girls' RC School.

Although she already had the job, she attended teachers training college in order to improve her skills. She then went on to do three years of guidance and counselling, as well as a BSc in educational services from Andrews University, Michigan at the University of the Southern Caribbean.

She was eventually promoted to vice principal, then principal of Malabar RC School in Arima, and, retired as a school supervisor in 2010 before becoming a student once again.

Adams had no hesitancy returning to school as a student at 60, but kept the decision to herself. She advised people to do the same so they do not have to hear negativity from others.

“In my case, I had to keep it under wraps because I expected people to say, ‘What you doing? Stay home and relax yourself. See about your grandchildren. Go and plant garden. Go and help in the church. What you going a