Michael-Tony Fonkeng Asemot looked calm and composed as he stood at his alma mater, St Joseph’s College Sasse, to receive a cheque of 1 million francs CFA as a prize for setting a new record in the Cameroon GCE Advanced Level.
Fonkeng, who enrolled in October to study accounting at the University of Buea, set this record in July as the first arts student in Cameroon to obtain the perfect score of 25 points at the GCE Advanced Level examination.
He took the A2 series in Upper Sixth (History, Economics, and Geography), then added Philosophy and ICT to complete five subjects, earning perfect scores in all five to become the first arts student to accomplish this in the nation.
On December 14, ex-students of his college who are based in the United States (SOBA-America) presented him with one million CFA francs to recognize his achievement and encourage hard work among other students.
St Joseph’s College Sasse, founded in 1939 as Cameroon’s oldest secondary school, has long been known for outstanding GCE results.
However, its top performances have traditionally come from the sciences, until Michael-Tony Fonkeng Asemot broke the deadlock in the arts this year.
He attributed his success to early preparation, which gave him ample time to cover all subjects and topics thoroughly.
His key advice to other students was that they should “begin early, to avoid procrastination, be disciplined, determined.”
Fonkeng was among several Sasse College Sasse students honored with prizes from their alumni.
The awarding body, SOBA-America, stated the gesture was a way of encouraging excellence and exemplifying the support they themselves had received as students.
The school’s principal, Rev. Fr. Jude Njanto, said his goal is to sustain the tradition of outstanding results. He thanked the alumni for their generosity toward the school and its students.
“I’m very satisfied, I’m happy because it’s an acknowledgment to hard work not only on the part of the students with that of the teachers, the parents as well for being dedicated. I thank the teachers for the sacrifices and the parents for all the wonderful collaboration they are giving us,” he said.
