Dexter Williams, Rebecca Keane excel in PEP exams
Published:Monday | August 1, 2022 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
DEXTER WILLIAMS and Rebecca Keane, two primary-school students in St James East Central, have distinguished themselves as the top-performing Primary Exit Profile (PEP) students following this year’s sitting of the exam, after two years outside the physical classroom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Williams, a student of John Rollins Success Primary School, and Keane, who attends Irwin Primary School, were among the 164 PEP students who were recognised and awarded during the St James East Central Scholarship and Welfare Fund’s 25th annual education awards function, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St James on Wednesday, July 27.
The function, which was spearheaded by St James East Central Member of Parliament Edmund Bartlett, saw approximately 300 students from the constituency, from the primary level up to tertiary level education, being awarded for academic excellence.
Williams, who got a score of 377.4 in the PEP exam aspires to become a soldier.
“I feel good in myself that I could achieve something, and when I got my results, I felt proud of myself to have achieved so high. I am happy because most of my friends are coming with me to Herbert Morrison Technical High School,” said Williams, referencing the high school at which he will soon enrol.
Keane, 11, was much more expressive in outlining her joy at copping a PEP score of 392.1, as she saw it as a means of disproving the discouraging forecast of a former teacher who doubted her abilities.
“I remember in grade four, there was a teacher who was saying that I should not allow distractions and other people to pull me down, and she thought that I would allow distractions and my friends to draw me down. I am just very happy that I did not allow them to do so, as I made friends, but also worked hard as well,” said Keane, who will matriculate to Montego Bay High School and wants to become an artist.
Williams and Keane were among 24 students from 12 primary schools in St James East Central who were the top performing boys and girls at their respective institutions.
They, along with the other 22 students, will each receive education grants of $20,000 over a five-year period, totalling $100,000 per student, on condition that they maintain a B-grade average during their time in high school.
Meanwhile, during his address at the function, Bartlett outlined the decades-long success of his scholarship programme, which began in 1997 to award students based on their performance in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).