There’s a lot going on in Jocelyne Hewitson’s life—but at the core is her passion.
In conversation, she’s a delightful mix of funny, chatty, polite, eloquent, and personable but the most important takeaway is that Jocelyne has a drive and an expansiveness of mind that are rare in adolescents.
She loves, for example, classic rock. Springsteen, Bryan Adams, David Bowie, and many others. At 18, maybe this passion for rock from long before she was born is surprising. But that’s her go-to music. And she knows her stuff.
She’s also a huge fan of reading. Her favourite novel to bring to the beach: novels by horror master Steven King, but, “really, I’ll read anything.”
And then there’s French.
Jocelyne has done all her education—from daycare through high school—in French. Her early influence was certainly through her maternal grandparents, who were originally from Québec. But as she got older, focusing on French was her choice.
In fact, studying in French is so important to her that she has attended Académie Catholique Mère Teresa in Hamilton, Ontario, for the past four years—and that has meant a 90-minute bus ride each way between her family home in Brantford and school.
French will continue to be her operating language when she moves to Université Laurentienne (Laurentian University) in Sudbury in September to major in speech pathology and study to become a teacher.
Her career goal is to teach French to elementary students. She has some good grounding in that profession already—for years, Jocelyne has tutored students in Brantford in a variety of subjects.
While tutoring has been a part-time job and good source of money for Jocelyne, it’s more than that. Like so many other aspects of her life, she has a deep passion for helping students learn.
“Tutoring is hard work,” says Jocelyne, who has built up a large clientele in Brantford, including an entire hockey team. “But I also find it fun. You get to make learning fun for your students. When I can help them realize that they don’t have to suffer through school and homework, that puts a smile on my face.”
Jocelyne values these opportunities to help herself and others be happy, because she’s had a lot to deal with by way of a tough health challenge.
She has a form of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a gene mutation that affects the body’s connective tissues. In Jocelyne’s case, her experience with EDS means “I’m in pain 24-7. I feel like I’m 90 years old sometimes.” She has severe carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis and may well develop scoliosis (curvature of the spine). She dislocates her fingers and knees often. She can’t do many activities for fear of the outcome they may cause.
“I watch people run, play sports, stay out late, and move through life without thinking twice about their bodies. I’ve had to think about mine constantly."
Jocelyne is not looking for sympathy. She’s learned how to live with the challenges and not let them keep her from her passions.
“I refuse to let EDS stop me. I’m resilient. You can’t let it control you.”
Her teachers have also recognized a notable kindness and appreciation for others in Jocelyne. Those qualities flow to so many people who she feels have contributed to her life journey: her parents, Todd and Nadine, her brother, Nathan, her boyfriend, Evan, the staff at Lansdowne Children’s Centre and her grade 9 and 11 French teacher, Valérie Lanneville-Carpentier, who Jocelyne sees as her role model as she takes the next steps in developing her career.
As for her immediate future and being away from home at university, Jocelyne is typically frank and fearless.
“I hate the unknown. Not knowing if I’m going to like this experience eats me alive. But I’m also a don’t-knock-it-‘til-you-try-it type of gal, so I’ll just give it a go and see what happens.”
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