'An awesome feeling' - Yashane lost for words over CSEC results

Mandeville, Manchester:

Though she got up at five every morning to make a two-and-a-half-hour trip from Trelawny to deCarteret College in Mandeville, Yashane Brown never wavered in her academic excellence.

Her persistent spirit and desire to make her parents proud helped her to ace 11 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects, eight of which she notched ones, while scoring a two and two threes.

"School begins at 7:55 a.m. and I would get there at 7 a.m. I slept on the bus every morning because I was so tired ... . I got home at seven some evenings, but even though the travelling took a toll on me, my parents stuck it out with me ... . They sometimes stayed up with me until 12 or 1 a.m., while I finished work for school," Brown told The Gleaner.

Even though she only ended up sleeping four hours some days, Brown still managed to do all she needed to, to secure good grades.

" In the evenings on my way home, I studied and went over all the lessons I did for the day. While preparing for my exams, there were some days that I felt it wasn't going to work out, but I trusted in God, I put my faith in Him and I believed in myself."

Results left her speechless

Brown said she was lost for words when she saw her results.

"Ever since infant school, my aim was to be placed first in all classes, and I attained that and it followed me right up, but when I saw my grades for CSEC, I was speechless. My parents were asleep and I woke them up. It was just an awesome feeling."

Unable to find the funding for tertiary education now, Brown is hopeful that the plans she has made will come to fruition.

"I will go to sixth form ... and hope ... I will be able to go to university. My hope is to become a forensic scientist."

She further said: "My parents keep me going and my brothers keep me motivated as well. I have to work hard for them. My father is a farmer and my mother is a stay-at-home mom, and I want to make them all proud."

Brown is guided by the philosophy, 'All things are possible because the Word itself says I'm possible.'"

rural@gleanerjm.com