Ricardo Lall celebrates Glenmuir ticket after mom’s PEP prank

Based on his grades up to that point, and how hard he had studied and prepared for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exam, Ricardo had been expecting to be placed at a school with a higher profile. In fact, the school his mother mentioned was not even the list he submitted for his preferred institutions.

After a few moments trying to process what his mother told him, Ricardo noticed a small smirk on her face, and that’s when he figured it out.

He had in fact passed for his first choice school and father’s alma mater, the much-heralded institution in May Pen, Clarendon - Glenmuir High School.

“A lot of my friends are going to Glenmuir, so I am happy about that,” Ricardo said in a recent interview with Old Harbour News. He says he felt very confident coming out of the PEP exams, knowing how much work he put in beforehand.

“They [exams] weren’t that challenging. They weren’t easy but they were as complicated as the ones I didn’t get to do. I wasn’t nervous.”

His mother Kaysha Lall, told Old Harbour News that although she was satisfied with her son’s strong performance, it was not unexpected. Ricardo, a Marlie Mount Primary past student, scored a 338.4 or 96.7% out of a possible 350 points.

“I wasn’t surprised, I actually thought he should have gotten more,” she said. “He has always been an excellent student, very focused, very determined. So him achieving excellence was not by chance, we’ve been working on him, parents and teachers alike.”

Mrs. Lall adds that her son coped very well during the period when he was required to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Ricardo has always been a very responsible person, so working from home was nothing really challenging for him. He gets bored easily, but once you set the work for him and leave it he usually gets it done,” she said.

She continued: “The times that they (Zoom classes) were done he made the effort to go on. I also gave him extra work, cause the Zoom classes weren’t usually consistent. So, I usually leave work for him to do and he does it.”

Mrs. Lall said she expects her son to maintain his strong performances when he gets to Glenmuir, and not just in academics.

“At Marlie Mount he was in football, he was in A-Quest and a part of the quiz team. He was also deputy head boy; well rounded. God has blessed him with a very good brain, he just now needs to use it,” the proud mother stated.

Ricardo has no idea what career he wants to pursue just yet, but knows he has to keep up a high standard in whatever he chooses. And according to his mother, his family is geared up to help him do just that.

“Lately, he says [he wants to be] a scientist, but before it was a pilot, so who knows what it will be,” his mother said.