JEFFERY Granston dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer, but although he created history for his alma mater Lewisville High School, he knows accomplishing his goal won’t be easy.

The now 19-year-old, who graduated last year from the institution, was surprised when he saw his name on the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) merit list for the region.

Granston was one of three students ranked fourth on the merit list for industrial technology.

“I feel great. I never knew I was going to be on the list. I learnt a lot by making small things like screws to bigger things like stools and the welding experience was great,” he told Career & Education.

He now helps his parents on farmlands in his community, Donegal, in the hills of northern St Elizabeth.

“At present I help my parents with farming, but I want to apply to the Jamaica Defence Force to serve my country. After five years I want to go back to school to study more about welding and branch off into the area of automotives. I want to build cars,” he said.

“From grade nine when I started the subject at Lewisville, I have always wanted to build cars,” he added.

He knows that his dream will not be a walk in the park, but said he has always been determined.

“From about grade seven I have been doing farming by helping my mother. When my parents didn’t have it, I sent myself to school. I help them and do some of the farming for myself,” he said of his passion for planting carrots, dasheen, cabbage and sweet pepper, among other produce.

Principal of Lewisville High, Duken Williams, said the institution has been ranked on the CSEC merit list for two consecutive years for industrial technology.

The subject involves students being hands-on and learning how to weld metals.

He said Granston got all ‘A’ profiles in the areas that were marked by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).

Lewisville is one of at least three schools in St Elizabeth and Manchester (Ministry of Education’s region five) which has its students on the CSEC merit list.

“We placed fourth place in the Caribbean for industrial technology. We have some other schools like New Forest High for social studies and Sydney Pagon STEM Academy for agriculture,” said Williams.

He wants the public to know that his institution has some outstanding students, although it is not considered a traditional high school.

“There are some schools, when it comes to the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), they will get the crème de la crème students. When we get our results in grade seven, we recognise that most of them are reading below grade level,” he said.

“With such achievement, the teachers would have put in extra work to get the students to be among the traditional schools for this award. We are in an age where science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technical vocational areas are critical to the students’ development,” he added.

Williams disclosed that the institution has had to partner with Black River High School.

“We have to take the students to Black River High School for them to use a lathe machine that is a critical component to them doing their School-Based Assessment,” he explained.

He outlined that students who are taught skills in industrial technology have done well in their CSEC exam.

“The students are taught what we call employable skills in communication and technology. Every year all the students in that class pass their exams and move on to HEART/NSTA and different institutions of learning,” he said.