At three days old, Chinelo Holder rolled over.At four-and-a-half months he regurgitated the words of adults around him for a few days, then resumed with the “normal baby cooing”.These early signs may have been tell-tale signs for any mother that her child would be somewhat “special”, but even then, Chinelo’s mother Claudette refused to believe that there was anything “special” about her son. For her he was “just a normal child”.“He pitched marbles, he played cricket; he was like any normal child. The only thing that was a bit different was that he took very long to walk,” she recalled. Chinelo never walked until he was two-and-a-half years old.But that aside, Chinelo continued to progress at an alarming rate, and now the 17-year-old Harrison College student is the youngest awardee of this year’s 2010 scholarship winners.But it was no surprise to him or his mum that he was awarded for his excellence, since for the last three years Chinelo has been on a winning roll.The outspoken youngster told the SATURDAY SUN that he was always very competitive and his quest to be the best always fuelled his need to excel.Chinelo, who was the top boy at Erdiston Primary School in 2004, moved on to Harrison College with that same focused spirit, and took his first Caribbean Examination Councils (CXCs) at 14 years old while he was in third form.But his mum had to foot the bill since Chinelo was doing evening classes at Springer Memorial School four times a week.Chinelo said his mother never placed any pressure on him to do well, but only said: “You are young, so if you don’t pass, just look at it like lessons,” was her advice.However, his first try at that young age saw Chinelo getting back four Grade Ones in maths, English A, social studies and human and social biology.“At the time they were going through the normal CXC syllabus so it was up to me to catch up and move ahead,” he said.In fourth form, Chinelo again told his mother that he wanted to finish his exams and this time he started the Queen’s College Continuing Education Programme.Again his mother Claudette footed the bill and Chinelo returned victorious with seven more Grade Ones in biology, chemistry, physics, french, Spanish, geography and information technology, making it a total of 11 Grade Ones, (eight of which are distinctions) at 15 years old.“Chinelo always seemed to know what he wanted and he loves a challenge,” his mother said.So good were his grades that the principal at Harrison College decided to let him skip fifth form. Chinelo moved straight into Lower Sixth.In Lower Sixth he achieved Three Grade Ones and Two Grade Twos and in Upper Sixth, an additional Six Ones, making it nine Grade Ones for the CAPE examinations. He also has five distinctions.Chinelo’s academic achievements have also inspired his younger brother Chioke, who is now in third form at Harrison College, to follow in his brother’s footsteps.Chioke has just completed three CXCs and got back all three at Grade Ones with a distinction in one area.“I’m grateful to God that the two of them seem to be academically blessed. But it’s very difficult to maintain them because all these evening classes are expensive,” his mother jokingly said.Although he has applied to universities already to pursue a career in medicine, Chinelo’s age seems to be a determining factor. Right now he has his fingers crossed and if all things go well, Chinelo may be heading to the Cave Hill Campus to further his education.
