UBC graduate Samaya Miller excited to be part of GraceKennedy's birthright program
June 15, 2023
Whenever Samaya Miller steps off a plane in Jamaica, a weight is lifted off her shoulders.
She doesn’t have to worry about feeling out of place because of her skin colour.
“It is such a beautiful thing to be around people that look like me,” said Miller who grew up in a small rural town in Alberta and was the only Black student in her class from junior kindergarten to Grade 12. “I feel at ease when I am on the island.”
Her next trip to Jamaica is likely going to be her most fulfilling.
Of all the students that have participated in the GraceKennedy summer internship program in Jamaica since 2004, very few would have had a greater appreciation to be part of the initiative than Miller.
On her last class day at the University of British Columbia (UBC) on April 15, she received a phone call from Crystal-Gayle Williams who is a Project Officer with GraceKennedy Foundation.
Recognizing who was calling and what it may be about, Miller excused herself from the Anthropology class.
“Crystal-Gayle began by saying there were a lot of applicants and the qualifications were stellar,” she recalled. “At that moment, my heart began to drop as I was thinking I didn’t make it. When she said ‘you are selected’, I started screaming and jumping. I was excited as I prayed very hard for this opportunity.”
Miller had every reason to celebrate with unbridled joy.
Born in Winnipeg to Jamaican immigrants Shelly and Shaka Miller who relocated to High River in Alberta when she was five, her family was among a handful of Blacks in the small community about 68 miles south of Calgary with a population of about 14,000.
Shaka and Shelly Miller (Photo contributed)
Being the only Black student in her classes and not having a Black teacher until her last semester at UBC this year weighed heavily on her.
“Living in that town is really difficult and I felt like nobody understood what I was going through,” Miller, who was a member of High River Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council for two years, said. “I love my parents, but they didn’t have a full grasp of what my struggles were because they didn’t grow up in that environment. No one looked like me in school and I questioned my identity right until halfway through university. I didn’t feel that I belonged anywhere. Everyone around me told me I was not good enough, including teachers and students. To be subjected to constant negativity and racism in school and in your community and knowing that no one has your back is something that is hard and stressful. The one good thing that came out of it is that I was inspired to do the work I do now which revolves around advocacy for justice, particularly for Blacks.”
Moving to British Columbia to attend university, she thought, was going to be a smooth transition.
It didn’t initially.
“My first year of university was really rough,” said Miller who was a Summer Camp Leader in Calgary in 2021 and 2022. “I have a friend that assisted me in finding a psychologist that helped me to untangle some of the issues I faced and made me feel secure with who I am. I became more involved in school activities this last year. Being connected with people who share similar interests also helped. As I continue to grow, I am so thankful for the opportunity to be in those spaces.”
Samaya Miller enjoys visiting Jamaica (Photo contributed)
Showing up for a ‘Studies in Black Intellectual Traditions’ class this year and seeing a Black instructor is a moment she will never forget.
Dr. Sakiru Adebayo joined UBC’s Faculty of Creative & Critical Studies in July 2021.
“That was a first for me and he is the best professor I have ever had,” said Miller who, in 2017, went to Spain as part of a high school exchange program.
The GraceKennedy five-week birthright program assists with broadening the horizons of second and third generation Jamaican students between the ages of 18 and 25 residing in the Diaspora who are pursuing undergraduate or post-graduate studies with a Grade ‘B’ average or higher.
Miller learnt of the program through three aunts who reside on the western Caribbean island.
Samaya Miller is off to Jamaica on June 21 to take part in the birthright program (Photo contributed)
“I spent five months in Bog Walk and Kingston last year while doing virtual studies and they know how much I love the country,” the former childcare worker and cook said. “Recognizing this is an opportunity to get work and professional experience while meeting new people and being immersed in the culture were very appealing. This experience is going to be much different than just visiting and engaging with family and friends. I want to live in Jamaica, so I will see how I can make that transition.”
Miller graduates on June 8 with an International Relations degree and leaves for Jamaica 13 days later to start the program that runs from June 28 to August 7.
She and students from the United States and England will work at GraceKennedy business units linked to their areas of interest and career goals, attend the Grand Gala in Kingston to mark Jamaica’s 61st independence anniversary and Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay and tour the Kingston Harbour.
They will also take part in a beach cleanup and discover the island through Heritage Pathway tours in several parishes, including St. Elizabeth, Kingston and Portland.
Miller intends to do a Master’s and PhD and become a university professor, teaching Black Studies and Political Science.
“I still have a lot of school left in me,” said the UBC Inclusion Project Assistant. “I have fallen in love with my degree and I love what I do which is focus on Black Studies during my undergraduate years. When I look around, I see a lot of amazing female Black scholars, but that number needs to grow.”
Former GraceKennedy Ltd. Board Director Mary Anne Chambers, who was a member of the birthright program interview panel, is surprised by Miller’s career goal.
“It is telling that she aspires to be a university professor given that the first Black teacher that she had was at university a few months ago,” the Grace Foods Canada Inc. Board Chair said. “That speaks to the power of role modelling and the belief that we need to be able to see ourselves in positions in order to consider that to be possible for us to achieve.
“I can easily imagine the tremendous impact that the birthright program will have on her. This will take her well beyond what she would typically experience as a visitor. Having the opportunity to be in the business and seeing others who look like her in every position at GraceKennedy will be truly inspirational. Samaya will come away with a heightened self-awareness and increased self-confidence, knowing that any aspirations that she might have for herself are definitely achievable.”
Doug Orane, then GraceKennedy’s Chief Executive Officer, conceived the idea for the program while helping a family member, who was attending an American university at the time, fulfill his dream of scaling Jamaica’s famous Blue Mountain.
