Two rural students make Pitas district proud in STPM

BEAUFORT: Hard-work and perseverance has propelled Jerrywesly Senaja and Melizza Majikau to become the first students from Pitas to obtain excellent results in the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination.

They have become the pride of the small district about 169 kilometres from Kota Kinabalu when it was announced they were amongst Sabah's best students in the examination, on Monday.

Both rural students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Pinggan-Pinggan, Pitas, are among the 51 candidates for STPM 2018 in Sabah who scored excellent results with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.00.

Jerrywesly, 20, said he was proud that the name of the school and the district had been highlighted to be among the best achievers in the STPM results in Sabah besides rural students have proven their mettle by excelling in their studies along with other students

“This is the first time Pitas, especially my school has achieved the best results in STPM, of which two of our STPM candidates from our school obtained a CGPA of 4.00,” he said when met after the announcement of of Sabah's STPM 2018 results by State Education director Mistirine Radin here.

Jerrywesly, the fifth of seven siblings, said that his success was a gift for the family, especially his parents who had given a lot of encouragement to study hard and to pursue a higher education in order to change the family's destiny.

“I'm the first child in the family who has successful gone up to sixth form and obtained excellent results in the STPM because my siblings who are older than me just studied to form two and were unable to further their studies because of financial constraints as both my parents are farmers.

Sharing the recipe of his success, Jerrywesly said time management, proper study and motivation techniques were key elements to ensure he continued to focus on his target including completing course work.

Melizza, who did not expect to get excellent results in STPM, was extremely happy with her achievement and in making her family and district proud.

Meanwhile, SMK PingganPinggan principal, Malati Lajim said the success of the two students was a gift for Pitas and hoped it would inspire and motivate other students in the district to follow in their footsteps.