Sevaun excels through the pain of losing his mom
THOUGH HE lost his mother at the age of three, the pain still lingered as Sevaun McKenzie prepared for his Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT). The 11-year-old still made sure he adequately prepared and was rewarded by receiving a 91 per cent average and moving on to Kingston College, the school of his choice.
The Maverley Primary and Junior High School student told The Gleaner that despite the many hurdles he had to overcome, he cherished every moment of the process.
“It was kind of challenging, particularly the communication task, but my favourite subjects were science and social studies. We had a GSAT residential programme where we would stay at the school and do work. So while others had holidays, we had numerous assignments and were practising past papers,” he said in an interview at the school in Kingston.
“I never thought the preparation would have been so hard, but it was hard. It was challenging to make sure we covered everything before GSAT.” He added, “Seeing other people with their mom while I didn’t have mine sometimes affected me. However, my grandmother was always around.”
His teacher, Kerry Taffe, said his success was no surprise.
“I would say Sevaun is a cooperative student who is thirsty for knowledge. He’s very participative in class. He’s one of those persons who is always asking questions, so you can’t just give him information and he accepts it. He interacts very well,” Taffe told The Gleaner .