St Mary’s Prep trio cop top PEP awards for St James Southern
Published:Monday | August 21, 2023 | 12:05 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
ST MARY’S Preparatory School in Montpelier, St James shone proudly last Thursday as three of its students, Jovoy Thomas, La-Sharna Leslie, and Dajanaye Clarke, were publicly recognised as the three top-performing Primary Exit Profile (PEP) students in the St James Southern constituency.
Thomas, 12, was awarded as the constituency’s top-performing male PEP student during Thursday’s sixth annual St James Southern High Achievers’ Awards Ceremony, held at the Mt Carey Baptist Church in Mt Carey, St James, after having got an overall score of 342 in his examinations.
Leslie, 12, and Clarke, 11, were jointly awarded as the constituency’s top female students after they both scored 344.2 in their exams.
Despite being the least talkative of the trio, Thomas, who will matriculate to Herbert Morrison Technical High School, told The Gleaner that he was feeling exuberant about achieving top-boy status in St James Southern.
“I feel excellent, like I am on top of the world right now, and I feel fantastic. One thing I have learned from this is to never give up,” said Thomas, who aspires to become a lawyer.
Leslie, who will move on to Montego Bay High School and wants to become a paediatrician, was much more expressive as she outlined how her mother, an educator, motivated her to keep up with her studies.
“I feel honoured, I feel grateful, and I am just thankful for my teachers at St Mary’s Prep, because, if it was not for them, I know I would not be here right now. My mom is a teacher, so I have to study daily, because she is on my back every day,” Leslie admitted with a laugh.
Clarke, who will be joining Leslie at Montego Bay High and wants to become a biochemist, admitted that she felt nervous ahead of the PEP exams, but managed to pull through, thanks to her teachers’ encouragement.
“I was very scared, but now I am excited and I am grateful for my teachers. I liked to study csience, Math, and general knowledge, because that is what I am good at, but I did not like Language Arts,” Clarke confessed.
The three St Mary’s Preparatory School students were among 123 students from 15 schools in St James Southern who were recognised for their outstanding performance in the PEP exams, with each student having attained overall scores of 300 or higher.
In addition to receiving awards of $25,000 in book vouchers alongside their fellow awardees, the trio received personal laptop computers in recognition of their exemplary performance in the exams.
Homer Davis, state minister in the Office of the Prime Minister – West and the Member of Parliament (MP) for St James Southern, said the students’ performance is the culmination of the investments made into the education of the constituency’s children since he started the high achievers’ awards ceremony in 2017.
“Today is indeed a very special day, and, even though I am not being awarded, I feel very special in the sense that we started this journey six years ago and, even during COVID-19, we did not relent. If we are leaders, we have a commitment to build those who we lead,” said Davis.
Meanwhile, in her keynote address at Thursday’s ceremony, Education Minister Fayval Williams congratulated the awardees for their performance in the PEP exam, which saw a notable improvement in various subject areas for 2023 compared to when the exam was launched in 2019.
“To get scores of 300, it means you are brilliant, you are top of the class, you sit at the front, you are always early, and you are always present at school. Bask in this moment, but remember that your journey has only just begun,” said Williams.