Class of 2025
5th Grade of Nahom Dereje
My 2025 Year as a 5th Grader – By Nahom Dereje
My name is Nahom Dereje, and I’m going to share my
experience as a 5th grader in the year 2025. It was a challenging
year, mostly because of a difficult exam called the Checkpoint
Exam, hosted by Cambridge International School.
At the beginning of the school year, I was dreaming big. I
believed I could come in 3st, 2nd, or even 1rd place. I imagined
myself getting the best score on the Checkpoint Exam and
breaking the school record. With those dreams in mind, I started
school.
During the first quarter, I felt confident about my grades and
started to relax. But when the exams came, I didn’t do as well as
I expected—I got low marks. Still, I was a bit arrogant and
thought it was fine because many others didn’t do well either.
But when I got my report card, my grades were very low. I was
extremely disappointed. What really made me feel bad was
seeing my parents praise my sister while telling me they were
disappointed in me. That hurt.
My dad told me, “To succeed, you need to suffer first.” That
really stuck with me. So in the second quarter, I changed. I
dedicated my time not just to playing with friends, but also to
doing my homework and classwork seriously.
The second quarter was still tough. Normally, I would use my
snack and lunch breaks to play, but now I spent that time doing
homework, so I could have more free time after school. I also
kept studying at home. Finally, report card day came. They
started announcing the top five students:
5th place: Michael Kirubel
4th place: Leen Fuad
At that point, I thought I wasn’t going to make the top five. But
then…
3rd place: Nahom Dereje
I was so excited! I rushed home to tell my parents. My mom was
proud, as always, but my dad only gave me a simple “Good.” I
was really upset, especially because when my sister got 4th
place, he had praised her so much. That disappointment made
me slip again during the third quarter—I went back to how I was
in the first quarter.
During the third quarter, my grades were low again. But
something changed in me. I was tired of always being compared
to my sister, and I wanted to prove myself. I decided I needed to
do better in the fourth quarter, especially in the Checkpoint
Exam. I wanted to be in the top three again and make my parents
proud.
Then came the night before report card day of 4 quarter. My dad
told me we got the Checkpoint results. My heart stopped. He
said, “You got 3rd place.” I felt both happy and sad. I scored
115 out of 150—not perfect, but still something to be proud of.
On report card day, when our mentor was about to announce 3rd
place, my friends nudged me and said, “Go!” I was nervous.
Then I heard it:
3rd place: Nahom Dereje
At that moment, I realized something very important:
Big dreams mean nothing without results.
Thank you to all my parents and teachers
Especially mr.mathias, mr.dawit, mr.nebil
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