Athenian Pre-Secondary student Kitara Peter's essay tribute: 'My principal, my hero'

Kitara Peter wants to be a writer and an astronaut. - PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE
Kitara Peter wants to be a writer and an astronaut. - PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE

Aspiring writer and astronaut Kitara Peter, nine, has made “excellence has no limits” her motto.

She attends The Athenian Pre-Secondary School, Deane Street, St Augustine.

She expresses her love for learning through writing, she told Newsday Kids during an interview arranged to take place at her school on Wednesday.

This passion was awakened by her admiration of her principal, Kezia Reece. So in August, Kitara wrote an essay, My Hero, to show her principal how much she has and continues to impact her life.

The essay expresses why she thinks her principal is: K– Kind, E – Enthusiastic, Z – Zealous, I – Important and A – Authentic, giving new meaning to her name.

“I was home relaxing and while my friends were playing games, I decided to write a piece about my hero.

“The piece is mostly about my hero and how she makes learning so fun and easy. Sometimes we think ‘It's so hard to understand the work’ but when we ask a question, she makes it very easy and shows us why the answer is so simple.

“She takes time to break the work up into parts and first explains one path, then goes through the rest. Then she asked if we understand and then goes over again and gives us some questions, she will never move on to another topic if we aren’t clear on the one we are on.”

Kitara said Reece’s attitude to education inspired the way she is seen and loved by her students. Her principal includes dance and songs in lessons.

She said she grew sad not being able to attend face-to-face classes and being away from her principal – so sad that she would wear her school uniform at home, even during school vacation, and routinely send warm What’s App messages to Reece.

The standard four student already has her life planned out.

“I’m an A student and a focused one. I love to play and also my favourite subject is science. And when I grow up, I want to be something like Elon Musk. I want to work in NASA.”

Kitara explained that Musk, a South African, is the founder and CEO of many companies, which includes SpaceX where he is the chief engineer. He is also one of the world's richest people.

Kitara Peter, a student of The Athenian Pre-Secondary School, presents her principal Kezia Reece with the essay, My Hero, which she wrote about her. - PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE

She also has a keen interest in local and foreign politics and one day hopes to make her mark in the political arena.

She admires US president Joe Biden and TT Prime Minister Dr Rowley.

Kitara, who said she is a fan of “big words”, described herself as an overachiever. She is involved in the Cross Society and recently won a spelling competition – standard two-standard three category – by the Young Teachers Organisation.

“I go through words in my dictionary, I look at the meaning and then I asked my aunty to print some words for me so I can practise using them in a sentence."

Kitara lives with her two grandmothers, aunt, and father at their Tunapuna home. She described being with relatives as fun. She said they enjoy writing activities together. “We never leave each other’s side.”

When she isn’t dreaming big, she spends time with her pet dog Ebony.

She also spoke of her love for local geography, painting, singing, dancing and charity work.

She is working on her next writing on what it means to be a philanthropist.

Kitara urged all principals to put in the same drive and effort to motivate children the way her hero has done for her.

Reece said Kitara strives for perfection in academics. She was skipped from standard two to four in the new school year. Reece said she amazed to see how her love for teaching inspired Kitara.

My Hero

Kitara Peter

While many of my friends spent their vacation playing games and hanging out, I decided to write about my hero!

Kitara Peter dances with her principal Kezia Reece at The Athenian Pre-Secondary School in St Augustine. Kitara enjoys that her principal includes songs and dance in lessons.
- PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE

I thought I would have to wait to meet my hero one day, however that day came much sooner than I thought.

Well to start, my hero is the most knowledgeable person I’ve ever known and seen. She makes me feel like I’m a very special person and makes me feel very ecstatic. I love chatting with her. She doesn’t know how much I appreciate all that she does for us at school.

Yes! I said school…you can guess it’s the principal of my school – Miss Kezia Reece. I have known her all my life which is eight years. She took us to many places in Trinidad.

I am grateful for her. There is still so much I want to say about her. Her dream was to educate children of all classes. She makes learning so much fun so that you love school, that’s if you love learning.

I enjoy her stories and when we all sit for her to read us poetry. I can’t get enough of that especially when she does all the expressions. I laugh so much when she does that my tummy hurts. Just thinking about how she sings and dance, yes dance, makes me feel like I could sing and dance and do anything.

She lets us be ourselves and that’s perfect for me because I love expressing myself and she just lets me be.

She’s elated when we’re having fun and her energy is so powerful that I feel majestic.

While education is the foundation, she teaches us courtesy and kindness in and out of the classroom. She encourages us to do our part for society like philanthropy. She has a big spectrum!

As an individual, she is so strong in mind and heart. She always defends us at school and is sometimes overwhelmed when parents don’t do their part.

Kezia Reece, principal of The Athenian Pre-Secondary School builds words with student Kitara Peter who wrote a poem that she is her hero. - PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE

At times, I believe her desire is to give information to all. She does not limit us to one thing or one way of thinking. There is so much to say…oh she definitely doesn’t like boring words. She always says “banish boring words, live the language, love the language.”

Because of covid-19, I have missed a year of seeing her in the flesh but she made sure our online school was normal and that we used our devices carefully.

Miss Reece is my HERO! Hey, did I mention she taught my aunty who is at The University of the West Indies and she loves her. There are so many ways to describe her. She leads with strength and authority and I just hope I will be part of her life forever.

K – kind

E – enthusiastic

Z – zealous

I – important

A – authentic

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