By VIVIENNE GREEN-EVANS

Observer Staff Reporter

When an excited friend relayed a news report to Kevin Brown that he had placed tenth in the world in the Cambridge A’ Level Geometric and Mechanical Drawing (GMD) exam, Brown’s thoughts immediately turned to two possible ways he could have accomplished this feat.

“I thought for this to be possible either everyone thought (the exam) was extremely hard, or not many people did it,” he said in an Observer interview on Saturday.

Brown was one of three Jamaicans who scored among the top ten in the GMD exam, which is similar to Caribbean Examination Council’s Technical Drawing exam.

The other two were Gayrol Taylor from Glenmuir High School who placed fourth and Adrian Loague from Ardenne High School who placed eighth.

Two other Jamaican students also ranked in the top ten of the A’Levels. Cadian Drummond of Wolmer’s Girls’ School placed ninth in history and Shawna Kaye Lester, a private candidate, came in fourth in Spanish Language at the Advanced Subsidiary Level.

Brown explained that his initial doubt came after what he described as his less-than-perfect performance in the exam room.

For the first 20 minutes he sat, virtually doing nothing, and at one point he even erased his entire drawing and did it over.

“I kind of wasted time during the exam. We had two papers, the Geometric one which was extremely simple and the mechanical one which was more difficult and more work to do in less time,” he said.

“I was trying to figure how to get it done in the quickest route and so I sat there looking at the paper trying to get everything in perspective before I started. I did half of the work in the last one hour of that three hour exam. I remember erasing the entire work and starting over because the drawing wasn’t fitting on the paper, so I had to move it.”

For his efforts Brown received a B grade. His other A Level subjects were Mathematics, for which he got a B as well; Physics, B; Computing, D; and General Paper, B.

Before sixth form, he gained eight CXCs – all at grade one, with one exception, English Literature at grade two – and he obtained a C pass in the GCE Additional Mathematics.

Brown was born in Arnett Gardens after his two sisters. He passed the Common Entrance Exam and went to Wolmers. There he played a little tennis and volleyball in third form, joined the photography club in fourth form and started working with the Wolmers Schools Challenge Quiz team in lower sixth.

For two years he played on the team which this year defeated defending champions Munro College before moving on to the quarter finals where they were beaten by the current champions, Calabar High.

In lower sixth he was a prefect and co-founder of the Technology Club, formed for the purpose of getting more students interested in technology. “We taught them electronics, information technology, how the computer works, the whole nine yards,” said Brown.

In upper sixth he was appointed head boy by the school administration. That year he also became the president of the photo club and production editor for the school’s yearbook.

One of his proudest accomplishments in upper sixth was lobbying successfully, with three other friends, for a yearbook to be published after a six year hiatus.

Another was successfully writing his exams while working with staff and prefects for an entire week on the school’s 275th anniversary celebrations. “I had to be assisting with the organising as well as participating in some of these activities while exams were going on. I organised the prefects to assist with Sunday church service, giving tours of the campus and making sure the students were on their best behaviour. Students were running wild on the campus, so as soon as an exam finished I had to be out there.”

This week he starts tertiary studies at the University of Technology where he is pursuing a degree in information technology.

Brown believes his love for the subjects helped him achieve easy success. “I love the subjects I do so it doesn’t seem so much as work as well as doing the thing I love. I enjoy learning. Some people don’t really understand why a teenager would rather learn something new than go out and party, but that’s it.”

He gives much credit for his achievement to his mother, Pauline Dudley, a dressmaker who “worked as hard as I did to get me this far” and his aunt and cousins who came through at odd times with well-needed cash.

He however feels a special and deep gratitude to his former teacher, Grace Bell, the vice principal of John Mills All Age where he was schooled at the primary level.

“She kind of adopted me as a second son and assisted me right throughout, from John Mills to today, financially, morally, anything.” And if he could rate all his teachers since primary school, Bell would get top marks, he said.

“She paid so much attention to her students making sure they were performing and motivating them to perform.”