Eleven-year-old Mika Loustric (second from left) of Wills Primary holds up one finger to demonstrate that he is both the ‘top boy’ in this year’s Secondary School Entrance examination and the top achieving student. With him is his family (from left) Father Michel Loustric, elder sister Ilona, younger sister Erika and mother Sylvia.
Mika and Destini score top places
6/9/2010
By Khalil Goodman
Eleven-year-old Mika Loustric and 10-year-old Destini Faith Lynch are sitting pretty as this year’s top achievers in the Secondary School Entrance Exam.
Both students of private primary schools, the children’s hard work will see them both attending Harrison College come September 2010.
Loustric of Wills Primary is both the “top boy” in this year’s examination and the top student in Barbados. He received 98 per cent in English and 99 per cent in Mathematics with a combined converted score of 252.05 and an “A” in the creative writing component.
Destini’s score of 97 per cent in English and 98 per cent in Mathematics gave her a combined total of 250.81 with a “B” in the creative writing. This placed her as the highest female achiever, a feat of which both her family and teachers at Hill Top Preparatory School are very proud.
Michel Loustric, Mika’s father, told the Barbados Advocate, “This is so fantastic – we are very proud of him. I don’t think he expected to be top of the island. We were hoping, but not expecting it.”
The senior Loustric did note that his son was aiming to perform well enough to join his elder sister Ilona at Harrison College and so this crowning achievement “was just the cherry on top”.
Mika’s mother, Sylvia, commended the teachers at Wills primary for aiding in her son’s achievements saying that Mika’s form teacher and co-principal of the school, Julia Franklin, must be commended for making “learning fun even as they push them forward”.
Mika, who is Headboy at Wills, said he felt little pressure coming up to the examination. Indeed, Sylvia noted that he managed to maintain his schoolwork and schedule of extra-curricular activities balanced, although this included swimming lessons, surfing, football and cricket and piano.
Mika says he is looking forward to starting the new school with his sister and friends and currently dreams of becoming a professional football player.
Franklin said she expected Mika to do well, having earned almost a perfect score on all of his mock examinations. She said the school was very happy with the results of the 16 students who set the examination this year from Wills, adding that ten of them received one of their top three schools of choice.
Similarly, over at Hill Top, principal Alicia Forde was ecstatic at Destini’s achievement noting that the young girl is very “focused” and goal-oriented. Twenty-six students from Hill Top set the “Eleven-Plus” this year, of which Destini and her friends Rachael Lewis and Shay Martin are the only three who were ten years old. “Those three have always worked hard,” added Forde.
Destini’s mother, Coreen Lynch, was also very happy at her daughter’s accomplishment, although she added that it was expected.
“She has always been very focused and hard-working,” she stated, noting that Destini has expressed a desire to be a doctor since age three – a career goal that the quiet-spoken little girl reconfirmed with a large smile.
