Jadon fights flu to take CPEA top spot

A recent field trip to Dark View Falls was made 97.20 percent better for Windsor Primary School student, Jadon Hamilton, after he was informed that he not only made it among the top 10 performers for the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA), but he also placed first overall.

What was more remarkable is that the 11-year-old national swimmer accomplished the achievement while affected by a high fever and stomach ache on the day of the examinations. His mother, Carol Williams, gave him some medication in the wee hours of the morning and hoped for the best.

“Jadon was very sick the day before the exam and I was fearful that he would not have made it because his fever was very hot and at 2 a.m I had to give him some Cetamol. I woke up at 4 a.m to check him and the fever was down but during the exams he was on fever meds,” the proud mother and lawyer by profession told SEARCHLIGHT.

While Williams was anxious about her son’s performance during the exams, Jadon was as cool as a snow cone and confident that a spot in the top 10 would be his.

He spoke to SEARCHLIGHT in an interview on Friday, June 9, in the company of his beaming father Stanford Hamilton, following his return from the school’s field trip.

“I was really happy when I got the results,” Hamilton said.

With swim practice taking place daily after school, extra lessons, and regular homework commitments, Jadon had a packed plate of activities leading up to the CPEA exams but he said he held fast as he did not want to sacrifice participation in swimming.

His mother backed him on this decision telling SEARCHLIGHT “You need to train to get in those teams and do well. We only stopped training a couple of weeks before the exam so he could actually focus”.

She also admitted that based on Jadon’s approach to schoolwork and his illness prior to the examination she was anxious during the four-week wait for the results.

“Jadon is a very playful child and sometimes he wants to play before he actually studies and I think sometimes it is overconfidence … because he learns very quickly. But I knew even though he had that talent to learn very quickly you have to put in that hard work.”

She revealed that in a conversation with the principal, Kenneth Burgin, on the morning before the results were officially released he hinted that Jadon had landed the top spot.

“I came and I saw [the principal] and I asked about the results and he said ‘you don’t believe rumours’ and he actually knew, and then he hinted that Windsor got one, two. I started to shake, then he said to me that it is Jadon and Kajj but I needed to see confirmation.”

Jadon said his favourite subject is Science and he has narrowed down his career choice to two options- an Engineer or Biologist.