Joseph Cunningham, Gleaner Writer
OO
BORN AND living in Burma, now called Myanmar, a small country in South East Asia, Campion College's grade 11 valedictorian, Hnin Hnin Oo, had never experienced a culture shift.
At age 10, she was made to do so, when she migrated to Jamaica in 1998 with both parents - Hla, her mother and her father Tun.
In Burma the culture is totally different, she told The Gleaner yesterday. "My native tongue is Burmese; we dressed, danced and ate differently."
Asked how she negotiated the change in lifestyle, young Oo's response justified her 'CSEC Whiz-Kid' status: " When I came to Jamaica, I spoke no English at all, so in order to learn the language, I watched a lot of television, since the language that was being spoken on the TV was English; that's how I learnt to speak fluent English".
At this stage she was attending Holy Childhood Preparatory in St. Andrew before her family moved to St. Mary to facilitate her father's profession as a surgeon at the Annotto Bay Hospital. She graduated from the St. Cyprians Preparatory School in St. Mary after being awarded the Jamaica Building Society National Scholarship (JNBS) for outstanding performances in the GSAT examinations and began her years at Campion College.
GENIUS CONFIRMED
Consistently performing at extremely high standards, maintaining a straight A profile and an average of 90 per cent, Hnin confirmed her genius when she 'delivered' in the CXC examinations. Hnin passed all eight exams she attempted, with the highest possible grade, 'distinction'. An aspiring radiologist - a branch of medicine concerned with the use of radiant energy (as X-rays or ultrasound) in the diagnosis and treatment of disease - the science student passed biology, chemistry, physics, information technology, spanish, English A & B along with mathematics.
She is very thankful for her parents who have been a source of strength, and for good teachers, who she said, made sure she thoroughly understood all subjects
"I also attribute my success to focus and proper time management", she continued; adding that she was "not a nerd", as she always found time for her hobbies - singing, playing the guitar, talking to friends on the telephone, and watching TV.
