Third former cops eight Grade Ones at CSEC exams

Fourteen-year-old Malique Lindore, a third form student of Chase Academy in Kingston, Georgetown couldn’t be prouder of his decision to write 12 subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

Coming off with a whopping eight Grade Ones and four Grade Twos, the late nights at lessons and early morning commute in the ‘East Bank’ traffic were well worth it.

Lindore, an aspiring mechanical engineer, who studied in the Science stream, and his single-parent mom, Micheala Lindore spoke to the News Room on Wednesday, in company of his principal Henry Chase at the school in Parade Street, Kingston.

“I didn’t always like school but when I came to Chase’s Academy in Form One, there were teachers who motivated me, like Sir Chase. He saw my potential since from Grade One,” Malique shared, adding that he’s also grateful to all the other teachers who helped him including Ajay Kissoon, Nkosi Jupiter, and Jamain Hatton.

Preparing for the exams was no easy task for him but he didn’t mind all of the sacrifices involved.

“I worked hard at home and at school. Sometimes, I would skip lunch and go down into the lab and work by myself.”

Two keys to succeeding, he said, are hard work and finding someone who can provide motivational support.

“Find a motivator because without motivation, you would not really want it. You need to work hard and find something that will push you to work hard. For me, it was my mom; for someone else, it could be something else.”

Having completed high school at the third form level, Malique is looking to see if he can get a scholarship to study overseas but if that doesn’t happen, he would pursue CAPE.

Malique’s mom played a huge role in motivating him and providing every support that he needed. Even when he did not get into one of the country’s top schools after writing the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), his mom knew that he could still achieve great things.

When he wrote NGSA, he got Diamond Secondary School and his mom was trying to get him into President’s College because his grades were pretty close. When that didn’t work out, she opted to enroll him at Chase Academy.

“All that was required was me being supportive. He was at lessons late into the nights, sometimes until 10 pm and I would sit at work or in front of the school just waiting on him. We would get home around 11:30, make dinner, get in bed by 12:30 and get up at 4 am again to prepare to leave at 6 because of the East Bank traffic,” Micheala shared.

Mr. Chase said Malique has natural abilities and fortunately at the school, they were able to identify that gift. “It’s not a loss if a pupil doesn’t get one of the top five schools; I think it’s a myth, and we have to dispel that. Once you have master teachers throughout the schools, you’re gonna have results.”