Romanus Ang'ina pulled through all odds to score an A in KCSE.
He lost his mother in the second term last year and missed school for a whole month as his family went through grief and funeral plans.
In the third term, he contracted Covid-19 and was away from school for three weeks.
The 18-year-old, however, performed well in the just released KCSE results.
He went to Light Academy.
He told the Star on Sunday if it was not for devotion to God, sacrifice and going an extra mile in his studies, his grade could have remained a dream.
Initially, he said, his strategy was to wake up early for private studies and revision but it did not work.
He resorted to retiring late in the night.
“Self-discovery is very important. It is what saved me,” he said.
Armed with this discovery, he said, he never turned back. He would initially extend his studies to midnight, then it went to 12:30 am and then to 1 am.
Before the exams, he wanted to study electric engineering. He hoped to score in the margins of A- (minus) and A plain.
But now with A plain, he hopes to study Aerospace engineering.
Romanus said with the disadvantages, he was out to recover the time lost and turn around his fortunes.
“I would forego any luxury and entertainment time on Saturdays. I sacrificed a lot,” he said.
If he was not doing his studies, he was consulting teachers or huddled in group discussions.
But before he settled for his late-night studies, he said, he would have a short period of devotion.
“I would pray a lot. I would advise any students who want good results to put God first,” he said.
Part of the efforts was to ensure he had a good relationship with his teachers and leveraged this to consult them in difficult areas.
His favourite subjects were Geography and Physics.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
