Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

The right balance
The value of a student’s success increases many times over, when he/she is able to achieve academic distinction, alongside extra curricular activities. Marisa de Silva talks to eight youngsters of such calibre; the Edexcel, 2004 winners
A country internationally renowned for its cricket, tea, smiling people, sun, sand and surf… Sri Lanka is now world famous for its Brains! We seem to be well on the way to churning out one super young mind after another!
Having met/contacted eight such students, my most startling discovery was that contrary to common stereotypes of how ‘studious’ kids must be like, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the colourful bunch of artists, sportspeople, musicians, readers and choristers I met with.

Who are these youngsters and what exactly do they have in common? These seven students are all between the ages of 16 and 18 and are all Edexcel International World Subject Award winners for 2004. The event, which was held in August this year, presented 261 awards/prizes/certificates to London O/level and A/level students, under the categories of Best Grade Awards (7As and above for O/levels and 3 As and above for A/levels) and National and World Subject Awards.

Table tennis pro
Shayan Gunawardena (18), first on the list of World Prize winners, is currently living in Adelaide, Australia. He will be completing his South Australian Certificate of Education this December at the Norwood Morialta High School. Having bagged the World Subject Award for Commerce at his O/levels, he’s looking forward to entering university next February, with the intent of pursuing either Economics or Commerce.

He also received awards for being the third highest in the world and the National Prize for both Economics and Geography. “I am a strong believer that school life is not only to do with academics.” So much so that at his old school, Stafford International School (SIS), he played table tennis, badminton, swimming and athletics. He was also a member of the Interact Club, the school choir, debating team and chess club and was appointed junior Deputy Head Prefect and senior Table Tennis Captain during his final year.
Quite the all-rounder, Shayan balances with ease his extra-curricular activities and his studies. “I would usually have my day planned out – leaving room for sports, home work and some studying.”

One thing he thinks helped him when studying was explaining things to friends; teaching forced him to know his work thoroughly, and made studying more enjoyable. “My parents and brother always encouraged me to do my best, and I think that helped me a lot too. My commerce teacher Ms. Darshini de Silva played a massive role in getting me to like the subject, and made every lesson interesting.”

Artistic skills
The talented young artist with a passion for history, Sabrina Esufally (16) comes next in line to relate the story of her success. “I never thought I’d get it,” she said of her World Prize for History adding, “I was quite thrilled when I got to know my marks.”

Having always liked to read and write, she had taken to the subject in around Form Three (year nine) at the Colombo International School (CIS), and had a brilliant teacher named Mr. Dickson in Form Four, she said. “He was hilarious and really made me like the subject,” she added smiling.

Her primary goal, however, is to pursue law, she said. Having read a book on Aviation Law and two others titled The Day Eve Got Framed and Just Law, revolving around feminist law-related issues, she is quite the feminist, and is hooked on furthering law as a career.

In addition to her school involvements and prefect duties, she also juggles her time around her other passion – art. “I dedicate Sundays for my art, and finish my homework regularly, whilst trying to revise my work daily.” She also plans on doing her Performers Examination in Speech and Drama.

The numbers game
Ryan Samaratunga (17), also from CIS, the world prize winner for mathematics, cruised through both his O/levels and A/levels (all As) with the greatest of ease! Captain of the school cricket team, and a squash player, Ryan has mastered the ‘fine art’ of what he refers to as “ideal time management.” Preferring to study on his own, he would stop all his extra curricular activities around three weeks before his examinations and just go all out, he said.

Hoping to pursue either finance or medicine in the future, Ryan hopes to further his studies overseas. “I think I have a natural flair for mathematics maybe, because my father’s a lecturer in it. Also, I liked mathematics, because I didn’t have to study much, just master the techniques,” he added.

“I knew that I’d done well, but didn’t think I’d get the World Prize,” said Ryan unassumingly. He also got the National Prize for chemistry, his actual favourite subject as it requires a lot of logic and he had a really great teacher, he said. He also got the prize for the Best O/level Candidate, having got 12 grade As, (as he opted to take four extra subjects).

The movie fan
The World Prize winner for human biology at her O/levels, Murshida Yoonus (17) from Ilma International School was next on the hot seat. She hadn’t thought in her wildest dreams that she’d get a World Prize, said Murshida. Human biology was not even her favourite subject as she preferred chemistry! But they had got a very good teacher during their O/level year, and she did a lot of research on her own, she said.

More of a morning person, she used to wake up early morning to revise her work, do tutes and finish her homework on time, she said. However, she has not yet made up her mind about her future plans; she may do something on the lines of either psychology or bio-chemistry.

Right in the middle of five siblings (two elder and two younger), Murshida likes to listen to Bangra music and watch Bollywood movies. She’s quite a fan of Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Jude Law as well. She likes to read but she’s not much of a Harry Potter fan!

“I thank my family and friends for all their support, and especially my mum who’s my greatest inspiration!”

Cricket mad!
World Prize winner for accounting, Lahiru Jayatilaka (17) from SIS, said that he had expected good results, but not a World Prize. Currently studying for his A/levels, he hopes to apply to do engineering and management abroad. The junior and senior Head Prefect, a nationally ranked tennis player till 2004, an active Interactor, as well as a school swimmer, Lahiru too seems to have had many irons in the fire. During his post-O/level period he was also Head of IT for Peace Initiative Sri Lanka (a non-profit youth organisation). A computer buff and an ardent Cricket fan, Lahiru also plays the guitar during his spare time.

Book worm
Bagging the World Prize for Hindi, Neetisha Arya (16) of CIS says that as she’s an Indian and as Hindi is her mother tongue, she found the syllabus quite easy to follow and as she constantly speaks in Hindi at home, she is quite fluent in the language. As Hindi isn’t offered at school, self-study was her method. She hopes to pursue a career in bio-technology or something related to that field. In addition, she was also awarded a Grade Prize for her results of nine As.

Quite the book-worm, she’s even read and re-read series upon series of mystery and fiction books, said Neetisha. As for music, “I love to listen to soothing, soft, classical music,” says this expert on the keyboard.
Her secret to success depends on a more continuous method based on daily revision so as to avoid studying a load at once.

Workoholic
Former Head Prefect, Erangi Prasadika Dias (18) of Asian International School, won the World Prize for business studies, and is currently studying business at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. This just goes to prove that there’s no such thing as the ‘brainy type’. There’s absolutely nothing that a little hard work and a steadfast will can’t accomplish for you. So, next time you think of complaining about how some people are just born intelligent and some just not so, think again. Because there’s no such thing. It’s all a case of ‘mind over matter’ they say… and very rightly so.

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