Top student is just a regular boy, says father

This nation’s top student at the CSEC examinations Keondre Herbert, is just an ordinary boy.
“Keondre is for the most part a very normal boy. He does the normal things little boys do. I mean we have to tell him to tidy up his room, to wash the dishes, we have to stop him from spending too much time playing video games but we don’t have to tell him to study or to do his homework,” Keith Herbert told OBSERVER media yesterday.
He emphasised that his son’s penchant for studying is probably the only way in which the top 2018 CSEC student in Antigua and Barbuda, may be different from most children his age.
Reiterating that his son has a natural drive towards academics, Herbert described his son’s usual routine as coming home from school in the afternoons then relaxing a bit, playing some football with his brothers and maybe some video games and then he does his homework and other assignments without having to be told to do so.
Herbert said that being the parents of such an academically focused child made the parenting job a lot easier for him and his wife as far as school is concerned. However, he said that when it comes to getting him to do his chores, they experience the very same struggle as other parents.
Meanwhile, Keondre said that the most challenging aspect of studying for the 20 CSEC subjects he took was balancing his studies with getting his homework and other assignments completed. He said that 20 subjects meant a significant number of assignments, labs and school-based assessments (SBAs) that had to be done. So, he found himself working to complete these assignments instead of studying.
He added that were it not for some of his friends who kept him focused and would skype him up to 2 a.m. to ensure that he got all of his assignments completed, he would not have been as successful. Herbert boasted that he is able to retain a lot of information in a very short space of time and he would normally study at night or early in the morning.
He said that he became aware of his academic prowess at an early age when he attended the St. John’s Catholic Primary School. He said that since then he knew he could be at the top of his classes if he put in the work. He disclosed, however, that he was disappointed in himself when he placed 17th in the country in the Common Entrance Exams. The young academic then made a vow to himself that he would work hard to prove to himself that he could do better.
Keondre sat 20 CSEC subjects and attained grade 1 in each of them. The subjects he sat were: English A, English B, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Integrated Science, Human & Social Biology, POA, POB, OA, EDPM, Economics, Info. Tech, Mathematics, Technical Drawing, Caribbean History, French, Physical Education, Indus. Tech. Building and Social Studies.