By Sarojini Beharry
Ms. Beharry recently excelled at CSEC in 10 subjects: English, Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Information Technology, Spanish, French, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Principles of Accounts. SWAHA congratulates her on her achievements.
Having achieved this success, I feel not only pleased with myself and satisfied for making my family proud, but also immensely thankful for the opportunity and ability to acquire a proper education, to learn and to consequently perform well.
In order to succeed, it required a very determined and focused approach, whereby believing in myself, having faith in God, persevering and being academically tenacious were key factors; hence my choice of ten subjects at the CXC level. I ensured that there were no distractions to my consistent study routine and tried my best not to get too overwhelmed through prayer and relaxation when the work load became heavy from time to time.
Without a doubt, nothing would have been possible without my supportive and caring parents. I acknowledged how hard they worked to facilitate my schooling and extra lessons. This gave me the further motive to study arduously in order to make them proud of their daily motivational speeches and encouragement. Much gratitude is also expressed towards my Guru, Pundit Umesh Persad, who was very instrumental in motivating me to attain my goal through his educational religious discourses at Sunday morning service. His constant guidance and reminders really motivated me. I looked forward to going to temple and learnt more and more about my religion, Hinduism, whilst taking on my studies with full force.
Growing up from birth in the temple, my religion is definitely a contributing element to my success as it is filled with valuable life teachings and practices of Sanaatan Dharma. Therefore, I was not only striving towards academic achievement but also practising being ethical in character and attitude. The practice of my religion came from continuous participation in temple activities which created an engaging atmosphere to perform on stage and keep my mind off my studies when a break was needed. These included Ramleela, storytelling and choral speaking for Swadeshi competitions, where I got a chance to learn more about my religious scriptures and communicate more with temple colleagues, building a stronger network of friendship and harmony within my temple branch, Gyaan Deepak Kirtan Mandali.
Other extra-curricular activities in which I am involved include martial arts where I recently graded for my black belt in Kung Fu, lawn tennis and badminton. These activities together with daily and frequent prayer helped me with my time management skills and to cope with stress when the journey towards my success became rough at times.
I plan on going into the medicinal field in the future in order to become a surgeon. Hopefully, with hard work, dedication and prayer, my success would be guaranteed. Lastly, I conclude by advising students to have faith in their own abilities as anything is possible once one puts his or her mind to it. Allocating time to study, relax and pray is also necessary. Never give up and reach for the stars. I hope my achievement would be a guidance and motivation to all youths like myself. Sitaram.
