“A lifelong dream come true.”
This is how Caitlin Brooker, the top performing SEA student for 2016, described her accomplishment moments after being given the good news yesterday.
She beat out 18,179 other students from 543 primary schools across T&T for the top spot, making it the fifth consecutive year a girl has topped the nation in the annual exam.
Caitlin, who celebrated her 12th birthday last Saturday, said she had been dreaming of being number one in the exam since she first entered the San Fernando TML School seven years ago. She passed for her first choice school, Naparima Girls’ College.
“I am really, really, really thankful and I am so ecstatic. I’m really, really happy, it was all I ever wanted, it was my life long goal,” she said moments after being given the information by Education Minister Anthony Garcia, who was among those on hand to congratulate her.
“It’s one of the biggest moments of my life and I will cherish it forever. I was really, really praying since before SEA... since First Year... I wanted to be the top (student). I am really happy to perform this well. I am really, really happy... it was all I ever wanted.”
Caitlin did not shy away from the cameras as the media surrounded her and proudly declared her career goals, saying: “I want to be a politician, a lawyer, a historian, an actress, a detective, a mythologist, a teacher, a dancer and an interior designer.”
She said she did not do many extra classes but she had this advice for next year’s SEA students:
“Always persevere, never give up. Keep focused and try your best, every lunch time, sacrifice some time, sit down with your friends and quiz each other. That will really help you.
“And when you quiz people you learn more, you actually get the information into your head and you learn faster.”
Her father, Randall Brooker, said Caitlin was a very driven child and credited her success to her own passion.
“We are very happy for her. We knew she would do well. We didn’t expect her to get first but she is a very motivated child, very driven,” Brooker said.
“What she has accomplished here today, I think is 99 per cent through her efforts. It’s nothing that we had do anything extra for her.
“She didn’t go to any extra lessons other than what the teachers provided and she went to one class for creative writing but apart from that she did her own work. She set her own goals without prompting from her parents.”
He said he tried as much as possible to allow her to have a normal life. “She had her tv time. She had extracurricular activities as much as she could so you know to keep a balanced life as much as she could, not to be ‘beating books’ all the time and so basically we let her set her own agenda to a certain extent and we were there to just nudge her back on the path that would determine the goals she set for herself.”
Both parents said they had not planned any celebrations for Caitlin in advance but that they would now do something to mark her accomplishment.
TML’s top students
A total of 16 students from the San Fernando TML School were among those who placed within the top 200 students in the exam nationwide.
Speaking during a ceremony at the school yesterday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said 139 of the top performers were girls.
“Sixty one of the top performers are boys and the other 139 are girls. We continue to see a trend of girls succeeding but I want to encourage all boys and girls to continue to work hard.
“The passage from primary to secondary school is a right you must enjoy and cherish,” he added.
Garcia said he was also considering a study to track the performance of top SEA students.
“I am thinking about conducting a study to track your progress throughout the five or seven years it takes to complete your education, so we can see how you carry forward your success.”
Also present were Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, Junior Minister in Education Dr Lovell Francis, San Fernando East MP and Housing Minister Randall Mitchell and San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein.
Addressing the students briefly, Al-Rawi urged them to remember the results only marked a small step in their lives.
“I want you to recognise it doesn’t matter what your school of choice was or if you passed for the first choice, this is only a small step in your life.
“Whatever school you go to is a good school, it is up to you to work hard to determine your success. Your failures in life are sometimes your best lessons,” he added.