A deputy CEO at the National Youth Authority has praised St. Augustine’s College after the school lifted the National Science and Maths Quiz trophy for the first time since 2007.

Rocky Obeng said the morale of this story of triumph should not be lost on young Ghanaians because St. Augustine’s College was not part of the list of favourite schools tipped to win the bronze trophy.

“Never let anyone dismiss your potential, never let society define what is possible. The youth are not here to fit a script, we are here to change narratives of impossibility”, he told myjoyonline.com.

St. Augustine’s College beat five-time winners Presec and three-time champions St. Peter’s SHS who was defending their 2018 title.

The victory is only the second time St. Augustine’s has won the 26 year-old competition.

St. Augustine’s College were not even in the 2018 edition having failed to qualify while St. Peter’s reached and won that year with Presec losing out in the quarter-finals.

Augusco had to trudge through the regional qualifiers, an unfanciful stage, to reach the preliminary round while the two others were seeded schools whose participation only begins at the quarter-finals.

But this did not deter Augusco from pushing through to win. The NYA deputy CEO Rocky Obeng urged young people to shun negative thinking and face their fears when making decisions.

Photo: Rocky Obeng

Rocky Obeng, an old student of St. John’s said “while elderly advice and counsel is important and must be sought, conviction must always come from inside of you.”

“A conviction is all you need in your endeavours whether academic or entrepreneurial. When you fail, learn from it, change a bad attitude but don’t change your convictions”, he encouraged.