Young Davis developing early winning habit
Published:Friday | August 23, 2019 | 12:17 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Eleven-year-old Benjamin Davis has not only been racking up high marks in his academic pursuits at the Mount Alvernia Preparatory School, where he aced the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exam recently, but has also demonstrated immense versatility in sport.
One of Jamaica’s finest young swimmers, Benjamin, who represented his school at the Mayberry Investments Prep/Primary Schools swim meet, where he landed one gold, setting a record in the 50m freestyle, as well as two silver and two bronze, aced his exams while involved in a myriad of extracurricular activities.
“He was rated Highly Proficient in all areas of the PEP language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies and was still representing his school in several other areas while preparing for PEP,” his mother, Dr Carleene Grant-Davis, told The Gleaner, adding that he was placed at Wolmer’s Boys’ School in Kingston but will instead attend Cornwall College.
davis the debater
He was a member of his school’s debate team, which won all of its matches and went on to win the final trophy, and was voted the best speaker in three of five matches. To add to that accomplishment, he was declared as presenting the best rebuttal.
Also a prefect, Davis was a member of his school’s track team and represented it at the Milo Western Relays, where he copped a silver medal along with the 4x100m relay in a record 56.78 seconds.
He was also part of the team that won the age-group championship trophy.
‘Unstoppable’ is the term best used to describe this 11-year-old, who would travel from Montego Bay to Kingston each week to compete.
At the Burger King/Popeye’s YMCA Prep and Primary Schools swim meet, he was also relentless, hauling one gold medal with a record in the boys’ 50m freestyle, two silver medals, and a bronze medal. His prowess did not stop there as he went on to the Nestlé Jamaica Preparatory & Primary Schools’ Swim Meet, where he had a gold rush of four gold medals and one silver medal and again won the age-group championship trophy.
It was his high level of performance that led to him being selected for Jamaica’s national youth team to represent the country at the Goodwill Games swim meet in Suriname last week.
Benjamin’s athletic prowess goes even further. He was a member of his school’s cricket team and football squad, which placed third in the DMP Academy Under-12 competition.
His other accomplishments include representing the school at the local JCDC speech competition, where he won a bronze medal for his piece, and at the International Math Olympiad held at The UWI, Mona, where he and his schoolmates made it to the final round.
He was a member of his school’s credit union, St James Municipal Corporation and Tourism Product Development Company quiz teams and participated in all the matches.
At his recent graduation from Mt Alvernia Preparatory in Montego Bay, he took home five awards: Sportsman of the year; an award for being an Honour Roll student; the Principal’s award, which is given to students who maintain an over-90 average, in addition to participating in extracurricular activities; the trophy for maintaining a 100 per cent score in mental ability; and another for his participation in more than five activities at school.