“It’s never too late to go back to school”

Sep 24, 2023 News

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– single mother says after attaining five CSEC subjects

Kaieteur News – When 33 -year-old single mother, Lazana Hollingsworth decided that she wanted to return to school to write the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC), her top choice to do so was the Morgan Learning Centre (MLC).

Today, the young woman is glad she did as her academics and CSEC grades improved significantly. Hollingsworth moved from Grade Five in Social Studies to attaining a Grade two; from Grade five in Mathematic to a Grade Three; Grade Five in English to a Grade two; Grade 4 in Principles of Accounts to a Grade One and a Grade four in Principles of Business to a Grade one.

The private school which offers classes to adults through its lessons facility has a track record of churning top CSEC performers.

Hollingsworth nevertheless faced a unique set of challenges on her road to success. She shared: “I work for a shipping company where I drive and do delivery all day; I have to take care of my son and it not easy but I made the tough choice of returning to school,” she said.

Hollingsworth told Kaieteur News that this was her second attempt at the exams.   She sat CSEC in 2008 but she was not successful.  The young mother related that her family was experiencing a lot of issues at the time, and as a result, her education suffered.

“Back then, I wasn’t really focusing on school. Coming from a home with seven siblings and a single mother; I saw my mom struggling all the time so I decided when I get the opportunity to work, I would work to help her out,” she said.

As a result, she said that she put her studies on the back burner. “Eventually as I started to make money, I forgot all about the books. I said to myself, ‘I’m making money and I’m getting to buy the stuff I need that my mom couldn’t afford at that time so I didn’t see the need to study,” she said.

As time progressed, the young mother said that she started to develop a desire to do more for herself.

“I have my son and I want to be a good role model for him and also I wanted more for myself but get that more that I wanted for myself, I knew I had to go back to school.”

Consequently, Hollingsworth decided to join the classes at Morgan’s Learning Centre.

“I came to Sir Morgan and I had to do an interview. Being the very busy person that Sir Morgan is, I had to come back a few times before we actually did the interview and accepted me,” she related.

The young mother said that she was challenged to stay focused on her goals of completing the exams. Many times, she said she felt like giving up especially when she faced difficulties.

“At first, it was very challenging because I have a son and being single mom, I had to find the time to take him to school then work all day then attend classes. It was very difficult but I had help from my family,” she said.  Adding that the sacrifices included long hours of study after a hard day of  work.

Hollingsworth noted the journey started to get more difficult towards the end.

“The extra class and hour, the job that I do requires me to be on the road 24/7 driving. Imagine driving all day, then having to take my son home till at Success on the East Coast then have to drive down back to go to class. It was really tough.”

Hollingsworth said that Morgan would often offer words of encouragement.

“Sir was one of the persons in my head and kept me motivated about getting to the finish line. He would encourage me; he would say to me ‘Lazana don’t give up’.  He even called past students who would have passed through similar trials like me and they spoke to me and that kept me going till the end,” she recounted.

As a result, Hollingsworth pressed on and successfully passed all five subjects at CSEC. “I got all my subjects. I cried for all the sacrifices I made it paid off,” she said joyfully.

The young mother cried tears of joy as she reflected on her grades. Sir Morgan was one of the first persons she called in tears to relate the good news; she had move from Grade five in several subject areas to a Grade one in Principle of Account, Grade two in English, Grade One in Principles of Business, Grade Two in Social Studies and a Grade three In Mathematics.

“Now, I want to encourage persons who never wrote CSEC. I want them to know that it’s never too late if you want to go back to school; go back but you have to prepare to put in the work,” she said. Given her success, the young mother plans to take her studies further.

“I know now that I am not going to stop; I want to go even further,” Hollingsworth said. She has her eyes set on pursuing petroleum engineering studies at the University of Guyana.

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• Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC), facility, Lazana Hollingsworth, Morgan Learning Centre (MLC), Mother

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