DANIELLE SCORES A KNOCKOUT IN SEA
CHEERS of joy erupted at St Gabriel’s Girls’ RC School in San Fernando yesterday morning after it was announced that Danielle J Stewart received the highest scores in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination in the country. Stewart, daughter of former light heavyweight boxing champion Leslie "Tiger" Stewart, was among 19,786 pupils who wrote the 2005 SEA exams. She topped the country with a score of 245.756. Eight other students from St Gabriel’s also placed in the top 100. Danielle’s dad is currently out of the country. Danielle got the good news from Tertiary Education Minister Mustapha Abdul Hamid who is acting as Education Minister during the absence from the country of Senator Hazel Manning. This is the second consecutive year that a school in South Trinidad has captured the top position in the SEA exams. Danielle, 12, of Duncan Village, San Fernando, said she went to school yesterday confident that she would be announced as the number one SEA pupil. "I worked very hard and I believed that I would have placed first because I always did good work throughout the years," she said. Stewart has been assigned to St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando. Principal Curly Elaine Golah, who expressed delight at the results, said Danielle had been very consistent in her academic work. "When I look back, she had been consistently topping her class," Golah said. But it was not all work and no play. Danielle plays the pan and was involved in a choir at her primary school. The principal praised all the teachers, particularly Danielle’s teacher, Ewneth Rosales, for their excellent work. Stewart’s proud mother, Beverly Matthews, said it was always her daughter’s goal to place first in the SEA exam. Two other schools in South Trinidad — Grant Memorial Presbyterian and San Fernando Boys’ RC — recorded good passes. Grant Memorial has had seven pupils placing in the first 100 over the years. This year the school had 94 percent passes to seven and five-year secondary schools. San Fernando Boys’ RC had three pupils placing in the top 100. Sando schools top SEA SOUTH schools topped the 2005 Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exams, with first placed student, Danielle Stewart coming from St Gabriel’s Girls’ RC school, in San Fernando. The school also had eight other students placing in the top 100. The Ministry of Education said an analysis of the results showed that 107 students were ranked in the top 100, with two students tieing for third, three for seventh and four for eleventh place. Grant Memorial Presbyterian School, from which the 2004 top student came, had seven students in the top 100. San Fernando Muslim TML Primary and Chaguanas Government Schools had six positions each and Curepe Presbyterian School had five. Cherishe Alleyne, of Signal Hill Government School, was the lone Tobago student in the top 100. Once again girls outshone the boys, with 84 girls and 23 boys placing in the top 100. According to the Ministry, out of the 19,786 students who wrote the exam in March, 13,132 or 66.4 percent were placed in five and seven year schools, while 6,188 or 31.3 percent were assigned to three year schools, 244 or 1.1 percent at private secondary schools and 222 or 1.1 percent at pre-vocational centres, including SERVOL. Overall, 1,668 students or 8.4 percent scored 30 percent or less in Mathematics and Language Arts, while 1,487 students, or 7.5 percent got the maximum score of 20 in Creative Writing with just 1.1 percent or 209 getting the minimum score of zero. A handful of students, 44 or 0.2 percent got between 96 and 100 in Language Arts and 106 or 0.8 percent got between zero to five. In Math, 1,403 students or 7.1 percent scored between 96 to 100 and 1.2 percent or 229 scored between zero to five. The Ministry distributed information booklets and book marks to parents of SEA students which contained information on registration, student transfers and an explanation of the students’ performance. Education Minister Hazel Manning missed the results, as she is in Canada on an educational tour. She is expected to return to TT this weekend.
By CHARLEEN THOMAS
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"DANIELLE SCORES A KNOCKOUT IN SEA"