Farmer’s girl creates record for school

History maker: Effie Hester is the first student from SMK Tenghilan Tuaran to achieve a perfect score.

STPM Results stories by STEPHANIE LEE , SANDHYA MENON, LO TERN CHERN, REBECCA RAJAENDRAM and LEE CHONGHUI

KOTA KINABALU: SMK Tenghilan Tuaran has been offering Form Six classes for over 10 years, but the school has never produced any STPM straight As scorer – until now.

Effie Hester Justin has created a new record for her school when she bagged 4.0 for STPM last year.

“I am so blessed to be able to achieve this and do my school proud,” the 20-year-old said when met at the state-level STPM results announcement ceremony at SMK Putatan here yesterday.

She was among 39 straight As achievers in Sabah to receive a certificate of excellence for their results.

Effie said she almost could not make it to the event as it coincided with her grandmother’s funeral.

“My family persuaded me to go, saying that my grandma would’ve wanted me to attend this event because I did well,” she said.

The daughter of a farmer and a housewife said her family was her driving force.

“I want to help my family get a better life and I can’t do that if I don’t do well in my studies,” said the elder of two girls, who aims to become a teacher in the future.

Tawau Form Six College students Voo Shiau Phen and Voo Mui Ting made use of technology to do daily revision to achieve top results.

“I don’t really enjoy just staring at books when I study and find it easier to remember information when I make use of the Internet and a study application called Flash Notes,” said the daughter of a small-time oil palm planter and a housewife, who loves geography and aspires to work in the oil and gas field.

Mui Ting, who also uses Flash Notes, said she was told by her elders to be an exemplary model to her younger sister.

“This is among the reasons why I tried so hard to get good grades,” said Mui Ting who aspires to be a teacher in the future.

Sabah Education Department director Datuk Maimunah Suhaibul noted an overall improvement in the state STPM results for 2017, compared to 2016.

A total of 6,610 candidates sat for STPM in Sabah last year and the passing rate had risen from 98.16% in 2016 to 98.55% in 2017, she added.

The number of straight As achievers increased from 31 in 2016 to 39 students last year.

The passing rate between rural and urban schools recorded a small difference of 2.15%, with rural schools (75) achieving 97.07% and urban schools (24) 99.22%.