My belated congratulations to all the students who made headlines for scoring top marks in the recently released national exam results.

Well done. Your friends, teachers and parents must be proud and hopefully, this sets you on a path to an even greater future.

You all got me wishing I’d done better in school! Do you ever wish you’d topped your class? If I’d excelled at that level, maybe my life would be different and I’d have a prestigious job and arguably, more money.

Not every student who excels in school does well in life but most do. Good grades get you through many doors and that is why many parents push their children to do well. It reduces their stress.

You don’t want to struggle trying to get your child admitted anywhere and when you eventually find a school for them, you dread being called to talk about your kid’s poor performance.

A bright child, on the other hand, is every parent’s dream. They could even earn a scholarship and save you thousands in tuition fees. Sadly, sometimes the brains just aren’t there. Personally, my grades were okay but I never topped my class. I guess I wasn’t ambitious enough.

To be honest, I just wanted to pass and cared less about scoring 80s and 90s. I did well in certain subjects though. Not sciences, sadly or I would be in a hospital somewhere or perhaps designing amazing buildings or an engineer, which would have made my mum proud.

Not that she’s not proud of me but let’s be honest, had a news crew turned up to interview me and my family members all those years ago, she’d have been even more proud of me.

I can’t be so hard on myself though as I don’t recall any relatives of mine making National News either so, clearly, it’s not in our genes.

I came close though. I placed third in P.3. That has to count for something! I think the best part about it was that it was the third term and a good way to get promoted to the next class.

My school had a tradition where a special event was organised to officially close the school year and our parents were invited and the top three from every class were rewarded.

We all met up in the main hall and when your name was called, you’d receive a gift and handshake from the headmaster. If I remember correctly, I got a bucket. Can’t remember what my classmate who topped the class got.

Can’t even remember her name! Do you remember the students who excelled in your school? How are they doing now? I think it would be interesting to know how their lives turned out.

I’ve never met any student who excelled at the national level. Maybe if I had, that alone would have inspired me to do better in school!