Improved students honoured at Seaforth Primary

SEAFORTH, St Thomas:

Several students from the Seaforth Primary School in St Thomas were awarded the Dr Emerson Henry Award for improvement in academics

and conduct at a small ceremony held at the Seaforth Methodist Church last week.

Henry, an alumnus and native of St Thomas, conceptualised the award to recognise students who make significant improvements in behaviour and academics but are not necessarily at the top of their classes.

"Frequently, improvement is unrecognised, and children get discouraged," Henry told Rural Xpress. "We need to show these children that hard work is the key to success. I want to use this as a means to motivate other children, who will also strive for improvement when they see that hard work is actually being rewarded."

Students from grades three, four and five were judged on their performance over the past two years. The awardees were selected based on improvements in reading, mathematics and language arts. Data to enable the selection of awardees was collected from the Grade Three Diagnostic Test, the Grade Four Literacy and Numeracy Test, and the mock examinations administered by the school.

AWARDS

Students who showed marked improvements were presented with certificates. Six students who showed the most improvement were awarded cash incentives by Henry. Anthony Kirkland, Adale Walker, Jordon Robinson, Tackay Brown, Janice Brown and Dean Robinson earned themselves the top prizes for their performance over the past two years.

Guest speaker George Getfield, also an alumnus of Seaforth Primary School, congratulated the awardees on their academic performance and their improvement in conduct, and urged them to persevere in their pursuit of excellence. He pointed to several prominent graduates of the school, who, through perseverance, had achieved great success in many areas of life.

"Perseverance is the key; a quality of life that we should all adopt. It means to continue and maintain our efforts in spite of obstacles and challenges on the way. The success many of us have achieved has come through sheer perseverance," Getfield told the students.

Principal Trineta Fendall extended thanks to Henry for his vision and his innovative concept, and promised that the school would strive to enable the continued improvement of its student body. She also pointed out that students from the Special Education Unit would be included in the coming years.

rural@gleanerjm.com