Make reading a priority for children – Mother of honour student

A mother of two from Belair is encouraging parents to make reading a priority for children, as reading has many benefits.

“I think that a lot of parents are neglecting their children and leaving them up to technology too much,” Belair resident Karen Cumberbatch-Padmore told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday.

Karen had journeyed to the SEARCHLIGHT office at Lower Kingstown Park to speak about the academic achievements of her daughter, Allana Cumberbatch.

She said that her daughter’s academic journey began at the Belair Primary School, after which she moved on to the Girls’ High School (GHS), then to the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC).

After sitting the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Education (CAPE) examinations, Allana was awarded a National Scholarship in 2013, and in 2014, began her studies at the Law Faculty of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados.

Alana has graduated from the UWI and is currently enrolled at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad.

Karen said she is very proud of her daughter, as Allana was on the Dean’s honours list while at UWI and also won an award for being a student of scholarly excellence. She was the only Vincentian student in the Law Faculty who graduated with first class honours.

“My daughter, she has been excelling since birth. She weighed seven pounds, seven ounces and that is a perfect number and I done know she was destined for greatness,” said Karen, who noted that she would read to her daughter while she was in the womb and persons thought that she was strange for doing so.

“Encourage your children to read; I did that with my daughter. Support your children in anything they want to do,” stressed Karen, who noted that having faith in God is very important.

“Her (Allana’s) mantra is: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Philippians 4:13. That has been her mantra from the Belair Primary School through the GHS to today,” revealed Karen.

She said that Allana believes in giving back and as a result, she worked at the Thomas Saunders Secondary School, teaching English on the Support for Education and Training (SET) programme for one year (2013 to 2014).

Karen, a customs guard at the Argyle International Airport (AIA), wants parents to pay attention to their children.

“Children sometimes have too much freedom, and when they are young, you can change them,” stressed the proud mother, who used her own form of the colloquial term, “nose swell,” to explain how she feels about her daughter’s academic achievements.

“My nose is not swell; it drop off,” joked Karen, who explained that she decided to highlight her daughter’s achievements because Allana is not a boastful person and refused to do it herself.(LC)