Dear Editor,
This year’s Grade 6 youngsters drove themselves ever upward in high gear. Those top students at the just announced NGSA results delivered breathtaking numbers; some of which are so close as to make them inseparable. Once again, Marian Academy students were right up there doing themselves and institution proud.
Recognition must be given to unflagging dedication and a fierce determination to succeed, if not excel. Clearly, interested, involved parents did their part, too. I applaud all the students from wherever they come and whichever school they attended, for their competitive instincts, hard work, keen visions of self, and this early high energy road traveled.
Here at The Marian Academy, there is Jerod Roberts recording 522 marks and tying with a handful of others for third place overall. They were all leaning forward, stretching to the limit like Usain Bolt for one more inch (a precious mark) and one more elusive space (the coveted 1st or 2nd place). That proved to be just out of reach by the sliver of a whisker. A mere two marks separated the cluster of third place students from the number one student Saskia Twahir. I say: well done to these youngsters, who are already setting the bar high, very high, for themselves.
Overall, Marian registered eight students who qualified for Queen’s College and the same number for The Bishops’ High School. That is almost one in three students at Marian who are eligible to attend the recognized top two schools in the nation; there is Renika Anand, Ethan Jonas, Aniyah Couchman, and Gareth DaSilva among them. Another eleven students scored enough to go to either St Stanislaus or St Rose’s or St Joseph. Cumulatively, almost half the students at The Marian Academy who read for this examination qualified to go to a top tier school.
I must find the time to journey over and shake their hands, and urge all of them to greater efforts, and greater achievements in the years ahead. I wish that I could shake the hands of all of these early academic overachievers, and express a word of congratulation, regardless of from where they may hail or the place with which they associate.
They stand as sterling examples for their peers and encouragement for the older ones, including adults, just when spirits threaten to diminish.
Those in that high-flying one percent, that first one hundred have a certain resonance about them, a trajectory arcing upwards in rushing awesome promise. I see them as a special lot; a lot apart and poised for greater things along the way and up the road. These are the ones who scaled the heights while their companions slept. This nation could use a few more like them. Thanksgiving is in order.
Editor, I will now venture into admittedly strange territory even for me. Don’t ask me why or how, but there is something indefinably different about this 2017 bunch of lads and lasses. I prophesy (a new role) that they will go far places and conquer lofty summits. And as they do so, they will take us along with them for what promises to be an exhilarating ride. Congratulations and blessings to all of them.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall