WESTERN BUREAU:Eleven-year-old Yori Vanriel has emerged as western Jamaica’s top-performing boy in this year’s Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations, earning 394.9 out of 400 and ending a two-decade wait for Montego Bay Preparatory to produce the region’s top student.The head boy, who maintained a Highly Proficient profile across all three PEP sittings, has secured a place at his first-choice school, Campion College in St Andrew, which he describes simply as “a great institution”.Long before the results were released, Vanriel had researched the school’s academic tradition, explored its clubs and societies, and even mapped out the extracurricular activities he hoped to join. After visiting the campus, he fell in love with its library – a fitting attraction for a voracious reader – and was equally impressed by its cricket field. Though he knows no one from Montego Bay who will be attending, he is eager to make new friends and embrace life in a new city.“I felt very happy, very grateful to God, and very excited,” Vanriel said after learning of his achievement.UNCERTAIN AFTER MELISSAAlthough he knew he had prepared well, the disruption caused by Hurricane Melissa left him uncertain about how he would compare with the many high-performing students across western Jamaica.“I was a little nervous because of Melissa,” he admitted. “We were out of school from October until December, and I knew there were lots of brilliant children in western Jamaica.”That uncertainty, however, proved unfounded.Vanriel’s score earned him a government scholarship and marked Montego Bay Preparatory’s first regional top boy or girl in approximately 20 years, although the school achieved similar distinction during the Common Entrance and Grade Six Achievement Test eras.Principal Ferris Wilson said the achievement came as little surprise.“He came to us as a four-year-old and even back then he was a very disciplined child,” Wilson said. “He maintained first place in his class from then until now. He is a go-getter who would question every incorrect answer on a test.”Wilson said Vanriel’s consistent performances in grades four and five signalled that he was capable of an exceptional final result, even if predicting he would top western Jamaica would have been impossible.She also credited his parents for playing an extraordinary role not only in their son’s development, but also in supporting the wider school community.“They stood by the school. His mother cared not only for her children, but for the other children in the class. She encouraged parents, reminded them to get children off their devices, and was always supportive,” the principal said.While academics have long been his strength, Vanriel’s interests extend well beyond the classroom.An avid reader, he enjoys building complex Lego models, playing chess, swimming, learning the piano and exploring robotics. He was also a member of  the Montego Bay Preparatory’s Tourism Product Development Company quiz team and won the St James Parish Library Reading Competition in 2021.His love of books also influenced his decision to choose Campion.After visiting the Kingston institution, he was immediately drawn to its library and equally impressed by its co-curricular offerings, which he believes will allow him to explore interests not readily available at home.“I love to read,” he said.Although he once considered becoming a doctor, Vanriel laughed as he admitted he quickly changed his mind because he was “afraid of the body parts”.Today, his ambitions are firmly fixed on becoming either an engineer or a lawyer.For his mother, clinical psychologist Georgia Rose, the achievement is deeply personal.“It’s emotional because I come from very humble beginnings,” she said. “Growing up, my mother couldn’t provide the kind of academic support that I wanted for my children. The greatest service I can do to honour her is to pour back into my own children tenfold.”CONSISTENCY IS KEYRose believes her son’s success was built not through excessive studying, but through consistency, discipline, and a genuine love of learning.“He goes to bed by 8:30 every night. On Sundays, we don’t do schoolwork because that’s brain-relaxing time,” she explained. “It wasn’t about excessive preparation. It was about consistency.”Rose said her son is constantly asking for new books.“I’m a firm believer that if reading is strong, then the other things will come.”His determination was evident long before the PEP results were released.When it came time to select secondary schools, Campion College topped his list after he researched its academic record, clubs and societies.Before placement results were announced, he had already told his mother which extracurricular clubs he intended to join.“I told him to leave room for the possibility of another placement,” Rose recalled with a laugh. “He looked at me and said, ‘You don’t have any faith’.”Even after learning he had secured a place at Campion, there was little outward celebration.“The other children were screaming,” Rose said. “I asked him why he wasn’t excited, and he simply said, ‘Because I already knew I was going there’.”Despite his quiet confidence, Vanriel has never taken success for granted.Rather than focusing solely on his own accomplishments, he speaks warmly of a classmate whose consistently high performances pushed him to remain at the top of his game.“If I slacked off,” he said, “he was going to be coming for me.”At Montego Bay Preparatory, that healthy competition helped produce an outstanding PEP cohort, with several students scoring above 90 per cent. Among them were the school’s top girl, Sarah Gaynor, who will attend Mount Alvernia High School, and Kai Tomlinson, who earned a placement at Herbert Morrison Technical High School.For Vanriel, however, the journey is only just beginning.Soon he will leave the city he has always called home for new opportunities in Kingston, carrying with him not only western Jamaica’s highest score among boys, but the same curiosity that first led a four-year-old into a classroom and now points him toward an even bigger future.janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com