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At the start of this 2025/26 academic year, twins Brianna La-Thaniel and Rianna La-Manda Capleton finally began their lifelong dream of studying medicine at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, thanks to full scholarships valued at J$7,729,810 from the National Baking Company Foundation. 

Despite+ inspiring passes at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), the twins, who are both past students of Immaculate Conception High School, had to delay the start of their Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme for a year, given their inability to pay the high tuition cost which will total over $7 million in the end. In lieu of medicine, they spent the last year pursuing Biochemistry at UWI, Mona, but innately knew that medicine was what they really wanted to pursue. 

For 2025, when the National Baking Company Foundation—the outreach arm of National Bakery (Continental Baking Company Limited)—opened the offering for students to apply, their mother Camille McKoy knew it was the most opportune time for the dream of her girls to be realised.

In the end, they were not only selected for full scholarships but also offered summer internships at National Bakery’s head offices along Half-Way Tree Road. 

In a recent interview, the twins were overjoyed, knowing that they would be able to walk the halls for the accredited medical undergraduate programme, which provides a broad education for the study of health and disease.  

“Receiving this scholarship will allow us to complete medicine much quicker than having to wait. Last year, we had to start a different programme before transferring over because the funds were unrealistic,” Rianna said, before her sister, Brianna, added, “Receiving a scholarship is something we are tremendously grateful for, because it allows us to study our programme a lot faster or at a predicted rate in comparison to having to wait.”

“We are really excited to start this new journey, because it’s something we initially planned on doing, and to get the money from National is really wonderful, because now we’re able to start that journey and build on the things we want to build on, and continue to build into becoming future doctors,” Rihanna said. 

Both believe they felt like becoming medical doctors from infancy. In support of this, their mother alluded to them wanting to wear Dora the Explorer scrubs every year to Career Day at One Way Prep School and Greater Portmore Primary School. 

“I always knew that they had a passion to become doctors. For Career Day, we would ask them what they wanted to become, and that’s what they said for the last three years in the early childhood stage,” McKoy, who defines her girls as “bookworms, very humble, obedient and different”. 

She added, “I know that they’re going to be stars, and the first two from my family who get to attend college, so mi know seh greatness was in a dem from dem small. They were never like the average kids who like to play. They were more into wanting me to buy medicine toys, needles and things that deal with medicine. In primary school, that’s the same thing they liked. In high school, they say the same things, so I said, ‘This is the dream that they will follow’.” 

The twins said their dreams growing up were further fueled by watching medical interactions through the media, with the cartoon Doc McStuffins, and shows Chicago Med and Grey’s Anatomy.

The duo from Portmore, St Catherine, said when they were both awarded places at the top-performing school in the Corporate Area, Immaculate Conception, they confirmed that they were like-minded and destined for greatness. 

As twins, they don’t have the same study pattern, but study together and ask each other questions after their own rounds.

Their youngest sister, Julisa Savannah Capleton, 12, is also following in their footsteps. At the start of this month, she also started attending Immaculate Conception. 

After completing their MBBS, the doctors-to-be intend to work at a local hospital and do a speciality in psychiatry, pathology or anaesthesiology.