HARBEL, Margibi – Cuttington University’s three best-performing students from the graduating class of 2015 all hailed from the same high school – Firestone-Liberia Senior High School.

The three men were recently honored by the Forkpah A. Pewee Educational Foundation for their achievements at the university.

Emmanuel Tarr, Kollie Tokpah and Wilmot Kollie, all 2011 alumni of Firestone, graduated summa cum laude from the Suakoko-based university.

The foundation’s Executive Director Forkpayea Mulbah said the achievement of the three Firestone-Liberia Senior High School graduates was a milestone in the history of the company.

“If no one recognizes the great performance of these comrades, we from the FOAP Educational Foundation do so with great honor,” he added.

FOAP Educational Foundation Executive Director, Forkpayea Mullah. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

Mulbah said the three graduates “have solidified our argument on why we think Firestone is making numerous contributions toward the educational sector of this country and toward human resource development.”

He considered the honorees’ achievements as clear indications that Firestone remains a top ranking educational institution in the country.

The foundation also presented award certificates to Ed Garcia, President and Managing Director of Firestone-Liberia; Carlos Smith, Firestone’s Communications and External Affairs Manager and Chairman of the company’s scholarship committee; and the Principal of the Firestone-Liberia Senior High School, Mulbah Gayflor.

Firestone had initially awarded scholarships for the three men to attend Cuttington after they were among the five best performing students graduating from the high school in 2011.

Valedictorian Emmanuel Tarr spoke on behalf of the honorees and said they were honored by the recognition.

He said the awards given to them should serve as a challenge and motivation to students of the school that they too can do better.

“I believe that because we are being honored, you will be challenged to do even more,” he told the gathering of Firestone students.

“Never be misled that our days at Cuttington was so easy, it is challenging to compete among students from several different stronger institutions,” he noted.

Emmanuel S. Tarr, valedictorian of the class on 2015 at Cuttington University. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

Tarr hailed the foundation for the honor and promised to always bring pride to their sponsor, Firestone and its school system.

Meanwhile, Gayflor praised his former students for making him proud. He said as principal of the school, he was inspired by their performances.

Since its founding in 2006, Gayflor said the school has produced students who consistently top public exams and perform well at universities.

“One of the indicators of a good school is the performance of its students on external tests or exams,” he said.

In its second graduating class, the school produced four students whose scores qualified as division one — the highest category in the Liberia Senior High School Certificate Examination, which is administered by the West African Examinations Council, WAEC.

Between 2010 and 2014, Gayflor said the school had 96.4% of seniors successfully passing the WAEC senior high exam.

At the university level, he said graduates from Firestone opened another frontier of academic excellence beginning 2013.

“In 2013, Cuttington University honored from our class of 2009 (the first senior class) alumni Ben Berrien summa cum laude, Eddie Zomonway and Moses Flomo both magna cum laude for excellence achievement,” Gayflor boasted.

He has however challenged the current senior class to make Liberia proud in the upcoming West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations. He said the school had produced two of the only three students whose performances placed them in the division three category in the trial exam last year.

He called the result of the exam a disgrace to Liberia and promised that the Firestone-Liberia Senior High School would redeem Liberian schools next year.

Featured photo by Gbatemah Senah