Top achievers honoured
Each pupil who excelled during the year received recognition, but it was, especially the top achiever of each grade who drew attention.
WHITE RIVER – Penryn College pupils and their parents recently celebrated 2015’s academic achievements and officially welcome all new grade eights.
As the college’s newest additions took to the stage, Mr Christian Erasmus, college head, encouraged the youngsters to follow in the footsteps of those who had come before them and to work hard in order to celebrate the same success as their peers.
“Today you become part of the high school body,” he told the grade eights, and encouraged them as well as the rest of the school to look at themselves and to strive to achieve their personal best during the course of the year.
“We, the rest of the school, welcome you to Penryn College. I know I speak for everyone when I say that we all look forward to walking the path with you as you grow into fully-fledged Penryn eagles,” he concluded.
Each pupil who excelled during the year received recognition, but it was, especially the top achiever of each grade who drew attention. In the grade eight section, Gabriella More O’Ferrall had an average of 86,7 per cent and she received a special award.
She was not only honoured with a trophy and book prize for being first in her grade, but was also presented with the Professor Gear Book Prize for environmental studies for attaining the highest mark in natural science.
Gear earned respect for his contribution to medical science. He developed the polio vaccine and created a vaccine against typhus, which was used by the Russian Army in World War II.
With an average of 92,2 per cent, Ashely Keller received a trophy and book prize for being first in grade nine. She also received the Mr Daryl Geffen Mathematics Trophy. Geffen donated this award in celebration of his most enjoyable and rewarding years as head of the mathematics department from 1996 to 2001.
In the more senior grades it was Jené Carstens (grade 10) and Gabby Olbrich (grade 11) who trumped their classmates.
More special
awards
• Melvin Smith was rewarded with the Exploding Bucket Award for increasing his overall results from grade eight. Smith improved his marks by an astounding
18,2 per cent.
• Taryn Assubuji received the Margo Lilley Senior Peer Tutor Award. It is given to a grade 10 or 11 peer tutor who was the most enthusiastic and effective senior peer.
• Angus Olivier received the John Wesley Award for Character.
It exemplifies much of the character of what Penryn stands for and what the school encourages in their learners.
• Sydney Atkins and Maru Attwood were jointly awarded the Mrs Betsy Joubert Junior Peer Tutoring Award. This trophy is awarded to a grade eight or nine tutor who was the most enthusiastic and effective junior peer tutor.
