Rivalry catapults two girls to KCSE top

Rongo Town, in Migori County ruptured into celebrations on Friday as the country’s top two girls in the just released KCSE results soaked in their achievements.

Former school mates and residents  joined the parents of Pangani Girls’ Juliet Irene Atieno and Alliance Girls’ Mel Christine Markus in jubilation as soon as the results were announced.

They carried the teenage girls shoulder high as they snaked their way to church to venerate the success of the two.

The homes of the girls are barely two kilometers apart.

For the two girls who from pre-school had outclassed each other in performance, the celebration extended beyond trouncing more than 600,000 other students.

Major role

Having grown up together, sharing the same background and having been arch academic rivals for the entire 12 years of primary and secondary school, it was a moment of pride in self-actualisation and settling personal scores.

They said the rivalry played a major role in fueling the stellar performance.

After parting ways in Standard Five, both continued to top their classes, a trend which heavily manifested in KCPE.

Irene, who was the best student nationally, having scored an impressive A of 84.64 points, was the best pupil in Migori County with 421 marks in 2015.

In Homa Bay, Mel had toppled her with 434 marks. Irene sat her KCPE at Rongo Success academy while Mel was at Cape View Academy.

Both attributed the success to consistency, hard work, and discipline, strong moral support from home and good guidance from their teachers. 

Dalton Otieno and Caleb Kingwara

Migori celebrates Kenya's top students

Rivalry catapults 2 girls to KCSE top

Rongo Town, in Migori County ruptured into celebrations yesterday as the country’s top two girls in the just released KCSE results soaked in their achievements.

Former school mates and residents yesterday joined the parents of Pangani Girls’ Juliet Irene Atieno and Alliance Girls’ Mel Christine Markus in jubilation as soon as the results were announced.

They carried the teenage girls shoulder high as they snaked their way to church to venerate the success of the two.

The homes of the girls are barely two kilometers apart.

For the two girls who from pre-school had outclassed each other in performance, the celebration extended beyond trouncing more than 600,000 other students.

Major role

Having grown up together, sharing the same background and having been arch academic rivals for the entire 12 years of primary and secondary school, it was a moment of pride in self-actualisation and settling personal scores.

They said the rivalry played a major role in fueling the stellar performance.

After parting ways in Standard Five, both continued to top their classes, a trend which heavily manifested in KCPE.

Irene, who was the best student nationally, having scored an impressive A of 84.64 points, was the best pupil in Migori County with 421 marks in 2015.

In Homa Bay, Mel had toppled her with 434 marks. Irene sat her KCPE at Rongo Success academy while Mel was at Cape View Academy.

Both attributed the success to consistency, hard work, and discipline, strong moral support from home and good guidance from their teachers.