He’s been through his own hard season. Now he wants to give other young people hope.

After praying at a memorial for his schoolmate, R.M. Bailey student Cameron Strachan is using his own journey to encourage young Bahamians to hold on to faith, education and purpose.

When Cameron Strachan stood before his schoolmates at the memorial service for his schoolmate, Anton Bowe, he was praying from a place of knowing what it means to go through a difficult season.

The 11th-grade R.M. Bailey Senior High School student delivered a heartfelt prayer that moved students, teachers and administrators.

But behind that powerful moment is a young man who says he has faced some of the hardest years of his life.

While attending A.F. Adderley Junior High School, Cameron says he struggled with his mental health— a period he describes simply as “the hardest years of my life.”

His academic performance suffered. Yet somehow, he kept serving.

He was eventually appointed Head Boy.

“For me, it was only by the grace of God,” Cameron said.

Today, he wants to use what he has learned to encourage other young people who may be quietly fighting battles of their own.

Cameron’s faith began taking shape at an early age in his Nassau Village home, where he was raised by his mother alongside his younger sister.

His mother taught them Psalm 91 and made sure they recited it repeatedly.

“Until we lived by it, until we lived in it,” Cameron recalled.

That foundation has remained with him.

And when tragedy struck his school community, Cameron felt compelled to stand before his peers and pray.

For him, school should be more than a place where young people receive an education. It should also be a place where they can find encouragement, support and a sense of safety.

“I believe that this campus is where students are going to be set free and delivered from whatever they are going through,” he said.

Cameron now hopes to become Head Boy of R.M. Bailey next academic year. But he believes leadership is about being someone another young person can approach when life becomes difficult.

His philosophy is simple: “It’s good to be book smart and Bible smart.”

His ambition is to become a police officer and eventually study law and theology, combining his desire to serve others with his Christian faith.

Adapted from Ministry of Education Bahamas