Drez took up challenge for CPEA top ten spot (+Video)

Mother, father, cousins and aunties – Drez Lyf Compton comes from a long-line of high achievers in the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) with many landing positions in the top 50, 20 and also top 10.

He has stamped his name alongside theirs in the family’s history books by claiming fifth place in this year’s CPEA and is the only student from the Kingstown Preparatory School to claim a spot in the top ten. Grade Six teacher, Laura Smart told SEARCHLIGHT she believes Drez took the challenge she issued to the class very seriously.

“What I try to do is let the students who I think can be at the level and position, I let them know. I had a meeting with 10 of my students, Drez was one of them and I said ‘one of you can be first so decide amongst yourselves’. I normally would challenge my students like that.”

While fifth place is a great accomplishment for the aspiring football player and social media influencer, Drez admitted to feeling disappointed when he received the results, as his goal was to claim the first position.

“I thought I was going to come first. I wanted first very badly because it is the best placement that you could get.”

His mother Kimberley Young-Compton, a secondary school teacher and father, Lyf Compton, a journalist told SEARCHLIGHT they worked together as a team to ensure their son had a balance of academics and extra-curricular activities.

“When he got to grade six, he said, ‘I’m going to come first in the CPEA’. So I started working with him. I did a lot, a lot, a lot of work to the point where he was like, Mommy, I’m fed up. We worked really hard,” Young-Compton said in an interview.

“I think she did a very good job in relation to pushing him. But I also believe that the physical is also important, so that’s why I will push the sports, let him go play football because you need to be healthy in order to learn also,” dad, Lyf said.

Compton said he is aware of Drez’s competitive spirit and his determination to succeed, adding he believes this will drive him in the later years to accomplish his goal of being a professional footballer.