MY EARLY SCHOOL DAYS

As a student, I was so many things, and that gave me serious fame among the pupil. I was so popular during my secondary school days that nobody will speak of not knowing who Ernest (AKA "he then") is. I am coming to it, I certainly will tell you how I got the nick name "he then", but for now lets focus on other things.

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My journey through primary and secondary school life was never a smooth one. Practically, I attended about 4 different Schools within my primary and secondary school days, and that surely affected my associations and personality in these different schools. Relocating to the city where my parents and my siblings based (at the age of 9), I was enrolled into a city school. Formerly I attended Ave Maria Nursery Primary and Secondary School (probably the best school in my community), but as funny as it might sound I could hardly speak English. Now I am in the City of Port Harcourt, and it's just wasn't easy. Within my first year of being a student of Ozulem International School Igwuruta, I was simply known as that boy who could not speak English. You needed to see me speak! In my attempt to ensure that I speak the right thing, I end up speaking a strange version of Pidgin English. When ever I remember those days, I privately laugh at myself😀. At the end of my first year in Ozulem, I was able to at least speak simply good English. Funny enough, my problem with English did not at any point cause me to fail. As a kid I was naturally brilliant, that was evidenced in my performance after my first year in Ozulem. Not withstanding the fact that all of the students spoke better than me, I was still able to perform well enough. As a result, I out-shined many of students. Thus, a child capability to speak the white man's language do not determine how brilliant the child is...Enough about Ozulem (My first City School). After my primary six, I complained to father about how much I would love to go to a more free school. Now, Ozulem was a big man's school. Most of the students there are not just like me. They don't play the kind of play I love, and they don't just behave the way I do. I wanted to play foot ball, run around with friends and do so many other fun things, but Ozulem was certainly not the right place. Finally, I was enrolled into Calvary Mission School, there I began my secondary school education. On my first day in school, I was already certain that I will fit in well enough. For the first time since I moved to the City, I got to see children play like they were kids; It was for freedom at last. In Calvary, the most intelligent ones were the female student with just few of the male students standing out. As pikin wey no dey carry last, I quickly joined the few outstanding male students. The truth is that I was never the best in my class, but I was a very bright student, bright enough to represent my school in a quiz competition along side two other beautiful ladies. As for my friends (AbleGod and Chigozie), they were never the brilliant type, but they loved play, we all loved play. Even though I performed so well in class, I was also known for being a hyper playful student. Somehow, I was able to scale through even though I played much and read little. I practically read only when I've got test or exam to take care of us, and absolutely worked for me. Now let's talk about the nick name "he then. Having being brought up in the village, I was told so many animal and ancient stories (mostly fiction) by my grandmother. Since I've this much information to shear, many of the student will always gather for me to shear some of these stories with them. In my attempt to pass the message I ought to, I end using the phrase "he them" so many times; I used it so much that my fellow students have to nick name me "he them". That is how I got my very popular nickname. After Sinor Secondary School one (SS 1), I moved to Government Secondary School (GSS) Eneka for my SSCE exam. There I made few friends, played less than I use to, answer less question in class (to avoid drawing much attention), and focus on my studies. WASSCE is probably the most difficult exam a Nigeria student can ever write, and I did not want to write it twice. I hardly experienced the activities of GSS Eneka even though it is a much bigger school than Calvary, I was in my class focused on my studies. In GSS Eneka, I exhibited a completely different version of me. Thank you so much for reading up to the end. One love✌️