On Thursday 9th September, 2021, the Portsmouth Secondary School (PSS) hosted its virtual graduation ceremony under the theme ‘Powering on through adversity’. A total of 64 students officially ended their secondary education and said goodbye to their alma mater.
The valedictorian of the graduating class 2020/2021 was sixteen-year-old Asaiah Yankey. According to Yankey, he has been a student of the Portsmouth Secondary School for the past two years, having been abroad following the passage of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Following a brief interview with Emonews, Yankey expressed his excitement for having graduated top of his class. “It feels rewarding to be Valedictorian as it showed that when hard work is put in, rewards are sure to be gained,” he stated. While he speaks of his rewards, Yankey does not neglect to mention the challenges that he has had to overcome.
He expressed, “The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic was surely one of my biggest challenges. The lockdowns and the online schooling made it difficult to complete SBA’s on-time, and the lost face-to-face time delayed the completion of many syllabuses.” Understandably, Covid-19 has affected the normal functioning of schools. Nonetheless, Yankey explained that he was able to overcome these challenges by placing a heavy focus on time management and organization of his daily tasks. He balanced his academic life with his hobbies such as hiking, going to the beach and reading.
Moreover, Yankey seeks to motivate other young people to strive for excellence. “A word of advice would be to avoid procrastination and manage one’s time effectively. When you have assignments and tasks to complete prioritise them and avoid any possible distractions,” he opined.
Additionally, it is because of the challenges that he has combatted as a student that he sees the graduation theme as quite fitting. While Covid-19 has created minor and major setbacks, he strongly believes that himself as well as his fellow graduates, were able to power on.
