KipRich lauds daughters on their achievements

For entertainer KipRich, life is good right now and he could not be happier. 

He is a proud papa, basking in the recent high school graduation of his daughter Micaelia and the promotion of his older daughter Kaylia in the US Army. THE WEEKEND STAR spoke with the artiste about his children’s recent milestones and how he felt watching it all unfold, knowing he was instrumental in their achievements. 

He stated that neither girl expressed an interest in the army, but after migrating when they were pre-teens, they started discussing future career paths and decided to do some research.

 “Kaylia first said, ‘Yes, daddy I’m interested. I want to do it’, so I found the place and got a recruiter who carried her right through the process. They have a thing called ROTC, which is like cadet in Jamaica, which provides them with an idea of what military life and benefits are like. So Kaylia started that from in school. She did the army exam, passed and did the training, and graduated, and now she’s moving up in ranks,” he said. 

Following in her older sister’s footsteps, Micaelia too expressed a desire to join the army which quickly recognised her potential. So she has been specially selected for the advanced individual training programmes and will soon move on to an intensive specialised 36-week training. On June 17, she graduated from Oakcrest High School in New Jersey with a 4.0 GPA. 

“Trust me when I tell you say I can’t even explain how I feel good to know that I stood with them right through and made sure that they reached to this point. Micaelia never just graduated, enuh, she did so with a 4.0 GPA, so every college wanted her. I’m still getting letters from colleges offering full scholarships, one even offered her US$158,000 for her college tuition. So to see her graduate with all these honours made me know that my decision to sacrifice and come up here was worth it,” said KipRich. 

Born Marlon Plunkett, KipRich emphasised that he would never knock the Jamaican education system, but felt that there were better academic opportunities for his girls in the United States. 

‘Most people a work fi get scholarships fi go study abroad, so wey me do is just bring them through the system before high school.  Kaylia had done GSAT but the school that she had passed for, I wasn’t too feeling it. Based on her abilities, I knew she could do great things but she was kind of falling behind, and me see that she wasn’t focused on her studies. And because I was on this side looking about my papers, I said let me get her beside me since I had the time, because I wasn’t touring as much. So I could sit with them and assist with their schoolwork and share my study methods from when I was a child, and they followed through with everything, and it worked,” he said. 

He said they are both daddy’s girls. 

“Yes, everything them pressure me bout and dem nyam off me ears every minute about everything. Now dem tek a liking to Kizzy (his spouse) so me get a break and she a get some of it right now. Certain little female things they will call she about,” he said. 

He said the girls also shared aspects of his personality. 

“Micaelia has my shyness, as people used to say that I grew up like an introvert. I was very reserved, and I see that in Micaelia as she is very observant and thinks before she speaks. But you see the entertaining side of me now, that is Kaylia. Anywhere she goes, she takes over that space fully and brings the vibes,” he said.