BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 23rd August 2019) – At the age of 12, Maleah Erskine of Bird Rock, a junior high schooler at the Basseterre High School (BHS) has sat advanced Mathematics by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) and not only passed but has received a Grade 1-the highest score grade category of the May/June 2019 CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) exams.
Maleah Erskine Maleah Erskine and her family courtesy of her family following her primary school graduation Maleah Erskine
“I’m honestly proud of myself for this accomplishment,” she said during an interview with this media house.
Notably, she is currently awaiting her results from CXC EDPM (Electronic Document Preparation and Management) for which Maleah along with her family is confident that she will pass with flying colours, likewise.
Her mother is the head of the Math Division at BHS Ayanna Erskine and her father is well-known driving instructor Nigel Erskine.
Maleah is the first of three children and only daughter to her mom. She has two brothers Faheem and Zekie and also has two older siblings on her father’s side Orngel Erskine (2015 Miss National Carnival Queen) and Crystal.
She is thankful for the encouragement and support of her parents and hopes that her younger siblings will become motivated by her accomplishment.
“I couldn’t have done it without the motivation of my parents. I’ve always given my parents reasons to be proud of me and I enjoy doing this. I’m hoping that my younger siblings will follow in my footsteps and that others will be motivated by my success.”
Maleah, who is about to enter 2nd form in the upcoming school year, is a former student of the Beach Allen Primary School who graduated as valedictorian in 2018.
She is determined to keep challenging herself.
“Now that I’ve done these two subjects and was so successful, I’m motivated to do twice as much next year. I know persons might be wondering why but I believe knowledge is not wasted and I enjoy the challenge. I love challenging myself,” remarked Maleah.
“She can be described as a multifaceted individual. She’s very competitive and is well- rounded and has always maintained top position in her classes. She has a very outgoing personality and sees herself as bubbly yet weird, friendly and respectful,” says her mom.
Like any other teenager, Maleah enjoys watching videos on YouTube, going to the beach and movies in her spare time. Additionally, she loves dancing and pageantry.
Her outgoing personality, however, sees her actively taking part in many extracurricular activities while balancing academics being involved in the St. Kitts 12th Girl Guide, Synergy Movement Dance Group, St.Kitts-Nevis Shito Ryu Karate-do Association, BHS Storm Cheer Leading Squad and Stormers Athletic club while embracing her spiritual growth through worship at Beacon of Hope Ministry located at the Industrial Site.
Read further to find out what more Maleah had to say.
REPORTER: What motivated the move to sit CSEC Math and EDPM?
MALEAH: I’ve always loved Mathematics and sometime when I’m around my mom’s extra classes, I would find that some topics seem easy to me. Although I wasn’t always able to understand everything, I would always have an idea as to how to solve the problems, so I challenged myself that when I reach high school I would write Math in 1st form. As for EDPM, I wasn’t so interested in the beginning. My mom suggested that I do it since she wanted me to be knowledgeable about the computer. I don’t regret doing it as I learnt so many things about different type of documents and formatting and I’m now able to teach my mom and dad these things.
REPORTER: What was preparation like?
MALEAH: I didn’t have a personal tutor for either subjects. I attended EDPM classes with Mr. Deepak and Math classes with my mom. EDPM class clashed with my Math class on Thursdays therefore, I was only able to attend one session of Math class a week. However, I would usually do past papers and have my mom marked them. I feel like my mom was sometimes strict being that I’m her daughter but she would always explain all the concepts and made sure that I understood.
Although Maleah is undecided about what career path she would like to choose at this time, what she is certain about is the nature of the field.
“I haven’t made up my mind about my career path but my interest lies in the area of Math, Science and Technology.”