THE results of the 2003 GCE “O” and “A” Level examinations have brought across an important lesson which is evident in the lives of the top students at St Francis Methodist School (SFMS), and that is, determination empow-ers one to accomplish great things in life.
Indeed, their strong willpower in pur-suing their education is to be admired.
Each of the top students interviewed had a different story to tell, but only one characteristic surfaced – determination.
Anthony Angela Jean, formerly from Ang Mo Kio Secondary School, was the top Normal-Technical student in 2001. In the last five years, not a single student from the Normal-Technical stream has made it to Secondary Five (Normal) which offers a shot at the “O” Level.
Angela could have easily settled for a less demanding route, but she knew from the start that the “O” Level was a “must” for her as she could soar higher with that certifi-cate. When she was offered a two-year HOPE schol-arship to study the GCE “O” Level as a private candidate in 2002, she opted to join St Francis Methodist School.
She has made the school proud by scoring Bs for English, Geogra-phy and Science, and Cs for Math-ematics and Ac-counting in the 2003 “O” Level examination. She intends to pursue a diploma course in either Hospitality Management or Nursing.
Vietnamese student, Nguyen Bao Thu, who came to Singapore to study at SFMS, obtained 3A1s, 2A2s and a B3 in the “O” Level examina-tion in 2003. She found that studying at SFMS, which also attracts stu-dents from other Asian countries, has helped her become more open-minded and mature in thinking.
Bao Thu proved that students could excel when their needs are met with the commitment of the teachers and the flexibility SFMS offers. She is now study-ing for her “A” Level at the school.
Oh Wan Lin is another success story in the school’s “O” Level examination in 2003. After a bout of illness, she was un-able to sit for her “O” Level at Dunman High School. Fortunately, she had a strong foundation in theory, and with the classes she attended at SFMS, she brought glory to the school by attaining 7A1s and 1A2 in the examination.
SFMS’s overall top student in the 2003 GCE “A” Level examination, Sun Xiao Ou with 4As, was followed by Peter Lee Kin Shing, the school’s top local student with 2As and 1B. That was his second time he had sat for the examination as he had taken it once before serving his National Service.
The school’s foreign students also shone in the “A” Level examination. Zhang Rui, from Guangzhou, came to the school in 2000. He took his “N” and “O” Levels, and in the “A” Level, he scored an outstand-ing grade of A for Mathematics Syllabus C, 3Bs for Further Mathematics, Chemis-try and Physics, a C5 for General Paper, A1 for Chinese and Distinction for Chinese Oral.
He was extremely hardworking and diligent in his years at the school and has served in the Student Council for a few years. The only child of officials in the Chinese Government, Zhang Rui hopes to study and do research in the Science, Engineering or Computer Science faculties at the National University of Singapore or the Nanyang Technological University, and aims to be a university professor.
Jillian Ang is the Public Relations Officer at St Francis Methodist School.