Jamaica's 2010 Rhodes Scholar, Alecia Johns (second left), poses with her father Patrick; sisters, Patricia (centre) and Anastasia; and mom, Olive, at the family home. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Two days after Alecia Johns was named Jamaica's Rhodes Scholar for 2010, the weight and wonder of the distinction was just beginning to sink in.

"Honestly, it felt so surreal," said Johns, a 22-year-old lawyer-in-training, of the euphoria of the announcement - at King's House two Fridays ago - which catapulted her into the pantheon of elite Jamaicans.

But despite being honoured as 'The One' from a field of eight candidates, Johns, a first-class honours graduate of the Norman Manley Law School, believes the stereotype of the award - near unreachable heights for crème de la crème geniuses - is overhyped.

"I believe that attaining this award is possible if you put your mind to it," said the Aquarian.

"I would say to anyone, work hard, work towards it, it's definitely attainable."

Contrary to her initial shock, Johns' father, Patrick, said he saw it coming a mile away.

"I feel great. I've seen this child budding from very early. It's like putting seed in good ground. Prepare the soil, make it nourishing to grow," said the real estate broker, in apparent reference to a biblical parable.

Big pay off

The doting dad - who has a trio of daughters - said he was elated that the hard work he and his wife, Olive, had put in had paid off big time.

"She has been guided, and, seeing her as a bright child ... she has decided to take the guidance, follow the pattern.

"We don't waste time. From prep-school days, every day we'd stop at the library ... Reading for her was very regular. It was a part of life, not really the TV," he said at the modest family residence in St Andrew's Hagley Park area last Sunday. (Now he needs a 'road scholar' to fix their pothole-ridden street, he jokes).

Mom, Olive, was equally effusive in showering praise on Alecia, though admitting she was surprised, "even though I knew she had it in her".

Alecia Johns' journey to the top was more designed by faith and fight than fate and fortune. The formula: hard work and good attitude, said Johns' father.

Upon completing elementary education at Wolmer's Preparatory, she was awarded a government scholarship in 1998 to one of Jamaica's elite high schools, Campion College. There, Johns honed her debating skills, which led her to Inter-American and Caribbean Court of Justice moot competitions in Washington, DC, and Barbados, respectively.

Strong faith

It's her interlocutory experience which she credits for her leap into law, as well as splitting the humdinger of evaluation interviews to separate the Rhodes Scholarship candidates.

Though Johns expresses a passion for music, it is her spirituality which holds pride of place in her life.

"My faith has been central and integral in everything. Trying to go throughout life without Christ is difficult," said Johns, a Seventh-day Adventist, who is involved in song and sign-language church ministry.

What's your favourite ... ?

MOVIE: It's a tie between 'Pearl Harbour' and 'Armageddon'. Like action. "Both movies showed a lot of self-sacrifice. The extent to which the film's protagonist sacrificed his life for the good of the world." She also likes the love triangle subplot in 'Pearl Harbor', which was played out in the midst of the Japanese attack which propelled the United States into World War II.

BOOK/AUTHOR: George Orwell's Animal Farm. "I find it such a clever allegory which mirrors the Russian Revolution. It shows how a people can be clamouring for better, but when they get what they wanted, it turns out to be worse than what they had before."

FOOD: "Cheesecake."

HANG-OUT SPOT: "I like Cuddy'z because the food is good."