Luciana Morris Shines Bright

Student at the New Providence Primary School in Kingston, Luciana Morris, was left speechless as her name was called for multiple awards at her school-leaving exercise.

The 12-year-old, who was the valedictorian for her grade-six cohort, received awards for being the top girl for the 2023 Primary Exit Profile (PEP), the top performer in Mathematics and Social Studies for PEP, the top-female performer in her class, and was the winner of the Girl of the Year trophy awarded by the Optimist Club of Manor Park.

In the audience, Luciana’s parents, Kayden Cassie and Alfred Morris, her peers, teachers and well-wishers, cheered loudly as she marched across the stage to collect her many awards.

“I’m feeling very proud of myself, and I am very happy that I got [these trophies] today. I thought that I would only get two or just one trophy. I didn’t think I was going to pass Social Studies, and well, Mathematics wasn’t hard,” she told JIS News after the ceremony on Friday (June 30) at the University of Technology (UTech) campus in St. Andrew.

Luciana will continue her academic journey at her first-choice school, the Convent of Mercy Academy (Alpha) in Kingston.

She told JIS News that she is looking forward to attending Alpha, participating in extracurricular activities and socialising more to overcome her shyness.

Her ambition is to become a journalist, an author and an artist.

Luciana’s father, who could hardly contain his pride at his daughter’s academic success, said she worked hard to improve her academic performance.

“She has made quite a progress because she was struggling with these [subjects]. I remember in grade one, she was in the 15th position. In grade two she moved to 13th then she moved to 7th.

From there, we didn’t put added pressure on her. We gave her a grace period and we motivated her,” he explains.

Luciana’s mother is equally proud, noting that despite the slight drop in her academic performance in grade five, “I knew she had the potential [and] I was expecting the greatest”.

“She balanced two extra lessons on a day-to-day basis. She had one at school and when she came home, she had one online. She was exhausted at times, but she did pull through and did a lot of reading, researching on the Internet and watching a lot of learning videos,” Miss Cassie tells JIS News.

Miss Cassie and Mr. Morris are encouraging other parents to consistently and with kind words motivate their children to be dedicated to their schoolwork.

“Give strong words with kind lips. Don’t give them instruction as a bully… . That’s where you kind of defeat the purpose. I think kindness and love come first because if you don’t show them love, they will play around. You have to explain the seriousness of why they need to be better,” Mr. Morris adds.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, who brought greetings during the ceremony, presented the top PEP awards to Luciana and Shemar Daley, in addition to book vouchers valued at $20,000 each to assist with back-to-school preparations.

She commended the 62 graduates.

“I call you students of resilience and you’re here today, completing one leg of the journey and taking up the mantle for that other leg of the journey to high school. Regardless of where you are now or where you have started… in your own time, you can achieve whatever you set your mind to do,” she told the students in her remarks.

Minister Williams hailed the teachers for their “unwavering support”.

“You’ve nurtured their minds, encouraged their curiosity and instilled in them a love for learning,” she pointed out.

Parents are also urged to remain supportive of their children as they transition to secondary school.

“The high school is an environment that’s more complex; it’s ambiguous… . There’s more required of children to be independent learners,” the Minister noted.