I feel even more proud of myself, says Zowie Bullock

Top performer in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), Girls’ High School student Zowie Bullock and her family were flooded with congratulatory messages this Wednesday without even knowing why.

It wasn’t until Bullock’s mother Devorn Benjamin was tagged in a Facebook post congratulating the top performers that the family found out that she, who gained 13 grade one passes this year, was named one of four top performers.

When she opened her results last Tuesday, the student said she was very excited, and her parents “very overjoyed”.

“I was actually very proud of myself, and I felt even more proud when I found out that I was one of the top performers,” Bullock, whose father is Roy Bullock said.

According to a release of the preliminary results, sent by the Ministry of Education, Bullock alongside two other Girls’ High School students, also named top performers: Jaynika Williams and Denisha Parsons, received 13 ones. Paige Cadogan, also a GHS student, sat 15 subjects and attained 14 grade ones, and one grade two. While Bullock sat 13 subjects this year, last year she sat regular math, and gained a one for this as well.

Those that she completed this year are: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Additional Maths, English A, English B, Information Technology, Principles of Business, Principles of Accounting, Geography, French, Spanish, and Economics.

She studied these, while also enrolled in the number 14 Rangers.

However, she said that she wasn’t stressed, “but I would say I was motivated to continue to do all of those subjects because of the support from my parents and my teachers,” as well as her own self-motivation.

It was her choice to do 13 subjects because she wasn’t sure whether she preferred business or science subjects.

“When I just started it was a bit overwhelming but I just put my mind to it and I did what I had to do,” the soon-to-be college student said. For her next step, she has decided on the sciences, Computer Studies and Pure Math.

The student remained on course throughout Covid-19 changes. “I don’t think I thought of it any differently but I would say that when I found out it was just multiple choice, I was a bit worried, because I know multiple choice can be quite hard at times but as soon as I did my first exam I realized it wasn’t that bad,” she revealed.

For helping her to reach this point, Bullock noted, “First and foremost I would like to thank God for all his blessings, my parents for their love and guidance, my teachers at my primary school, the Evesham Methodist School, for setting my foundation, the Principal, teachers and my friends at the Girls’ High School who have played an important role in this journey.”