Young Terron Alleyne still in the race for success
Terron Alleyne
Terron Alleyne

PANDEMONIUM broke loose in Linden and more so at the Regma Primary School after the release of the 2011 National Grade Six Assessment results by the then Minister of Education who boldly announced that Terron Alleyne of Regma Primary School had topped the country.

The feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment shivered down the spines of every Lindener which was expressed in jollifications throughout the town. The young lad had made every Lindener proud more so his teacher, parents, siblings and friends.
Over the years however, Linden unfortunately did not make headlines in this accord, but Terron Alleyne, now a fifth form science student of Queens College is a name that is engraved in every Lindener’s memory. Five years after, this young accomplisher remembers that day as if it was yesterday.

In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Terron revealed that though his expectation was to perform well at the NGSA, he never thought of excelling over the 1500 students that sat the exam with him.

“It came as a great shock to me, I expected to do well, but not so well,” heckled the young man. His achievement of 537 marks was the beginning of a great transition in his life and is still affected by the rapid changes that took place. Though happy about his placement at the country’s top high school, he was soon overwhelmed with the sad reality of being away from his family.

This transition he said was most challenging. “It was a bit challenging because I had to stay with relatives, and being away from my sisters and friends wasn’t easy,” he explained. Many expected that competition would have been limited for Terron as he excelled above all the children in his grade, but being away from home made it a little harder for him top his class.

Terron tried to fight the depression by engaging in extracurricular sporting activities. He joined the school’s cricket team in form one and though he enjoyed the sport this inquisitive young man made a drastic change to football of which he is still a member of the Fruta Conquerors football team. He also joined the Queens College Athletic Programme and represented the school in form three at a relay fair in Barbados. “I believe in being a rounded individual, I don’t believe in an individual having extremely high grades and nothing else behind it,” posited Terron while explaining his love for sports.

Being involved in all of these activities surely contributed to an enjoyable and fulfilling high school journey though experiencing some challenges. Apart from being away from his family, Terron had difficulty balancing academics and sports especially during examination periods. The most unfortunate challenge is that of being robbed twice, first in 1st form of his cell phone and months ago of his laptop equipped with some vital text books and School Based Assessments.

The latter incident was more horrifying as he was mobbed in Georgetown by someone who has a knife. Though fearful for his life, he fought back but was overpowered by the robber who made good his escape with his bag back with his laptop inside. Terron was tasked with redoing those SBA’s before the submission deadline and that was indeed tedious. Fortunately the young man received a brand new laptop from President David Granger who learnt of his plight.

Terron also revealed that financial challenges faced the family as the idea of living with relatives did not work out and his father was forced to rent an apartment for his son to complete his studies under comfortable circumstances. Despite all of these hurdles and stumbling blocks Terron said “I’m still here today.

In a couple of weeks he will be sitting 10 subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Examinations. He aspires to be a sports doctor and is hoping to be the recipient of a sports scholarship to pursue a degree in medicine abroad. To the students sitting the NGSA on Wednesday and Thursday who would soon be beginning their high school journey as Terron ends his, he encourages them to stay focus. “Try not to get distracted because Secondary School has a lot of distractions.

Be yourself don’t try to be anyone else, focus on just what you came here to do,” he advised. The science student also advises grade 6 teachers preparing the students for this very important examination to be more interactive with their students and build a relationship with them out of the class room. This he said can go a long way and results in maximum achievement from the children.

He also advises them to cultivate qualities such as patience and reasonableness. “ Not everyone can learn in a particular way some children learn at a different level and teachers need to be more patient…..I remembered by teacher, Cheryl Wills was very patient with us even offering extra lessons for free and this went a far way.”

Terron Alleyne is an example of what can be achieved through hard work despite the stumbling blocks that may face an individual. His belief he said, is that one should work hard to achieve success easily.

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