Mandeville, Manchester — In just over a month, cousins Macauley Wilson and Nathan Allen will be starting their secondary education.

For many pre-teens that situation would cause much contemplation and anxiety.

However, the two 11-year-olds are taking their gradual ‘coming of age’ in stride.

The modesty with which Wilson spoke to Jamaica Observer Central, ahead of his graduation from Mt St Joseph Preparatory in Mandeville recently, seemed to be reflective of his general personality.

With a bit of prompting we learnt that among his accomplishments on exiting preparatory school are his tenure as head boy, most outstanding performance for his school in this year’s Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), and being on the honour roll.

Wilson said that he represented Mt St Joseph Preparatory in track and field, cricket, and football, where he earned the distinction of being top defender.

He knows “for sure” that he will be taking his love for football as he enters Wolmer’s Boys’ in September and harbours thoughts of even playing the sport professionally.

Allen, who copped the award as the Most Outstanding Boy in his grade six class at Mandeville Primary and Junior High, and was also on the honour roll, said that he hopes to expand his extra-curricular involvement going forward.

He told Observer Central that at his new school, Mt St Joseph Catholic High, playing football would be among his activities.

Allen said that he is not nervous about going into a different environment.

While Allen admitted to experiencing some worry about his level of preparedness closer to the exams, Wilson said that he was unfazed.

“I never thought much about it, but the week before I started to fret,” said Allen, noting that he was comfortable with all the subjects in the examination, but he did not get to check over his work at the end of each paper as he would have liked.

“It (GSAT) is alright once you study,” he said reflectively.

According to Wilson, paying attention in class and remembering what was taught rather than dedicated study was a strategy that worked for him.

“It wasn’t a hard journey for me; mostly for my parents and supporters. My parents were doubting me because I was not really studying… I was even more relaxed [in the days leading up to the results],” he said.

With accomplishments proving their capabilities and a prospect of unlimited potential to tackle the high school path successfully, Allen and Wilson rubbished theories about boys being more likely to underachieve academically when compared to their female counterparts.

Wilson referred flatly to that type of reasoning as “foolishness”.