Ntini Edwards shines with eight grade ones in CSEC

While attending Gibraltar All-Age School in St Ann, it wasn't difficult for one to detect that Ntini Edwards would emerge to become a brilliant student, such was her enthusiasm and eagerness to learn.

The Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) results of 2013 saw her emerging as the top student overall in the Noranda Bauxite annual scholarship awards, where she earned a cheque for $25,000 and a laptop on her way to attending St Hilda's Diocesan High in Brown's Town, St Ann.

Her brilliance continued in 2015 when Edwards won Jamaica Library Service's Reading Competition for the 12-14 age group, for the parish, and went on to finish second runner-up at the national finals in Kingston.

Later that year, she was awarded a three-year scholarship by the Dr Tomlinson Trust Fund, valued at $40,000 annually. This assisted her in her final three years at St Hilda's.

And she would have earned other awards and got other assistance during her time at St Hilda's.

Well, all that help did not go in vain and the promises shown by her at all-age school materialised into some brilliant CSEC passes recently.

"I got eight ones, seven with distinction," Edwards beamed as she spoke with The Gleaner recently.

Her passes are English language, literature, mathematics, Spanish, geography, information technology, history and biology.

"I'm feeling good and I'm thanking God," she said, when asked how she feels about her success, flashing her familiar, brilliant smile.

Edwards added that her parents and two siblings were "elated, overjoyed, very happy" with her passes.

She was also grateful for those who assisted her along the way.

"I'm grateful to the Dr Osmond Tomlinson Trust Fund because, due to this, along with government support, I did not have to pay for a single subject."

This week, Edwards heads to sixth form at York Castle High, also in Brown's Town, as she seeks to major in media and mass communication and minor in computer science.