Top student explains secret to success

THE best performing Grade 12 student at St Joseph’s International College and in Papua New Guinea this year says he was able to achieve his success by saying no to unnecessary socialising, movies and social media platforms.
Xavier Pilon was a dux student from Grade Seven up to Grade 12 from 2017 to 2022 at St Joseph’s International College and was also ranked number one in the 2022 PNG Grade 12 examinations.
Pilon, 18, from Maprik in East Sepik, told The National that he started preschool in St Joseph’s in 2009 and this year marked his 14th year of being enrolled in St Joseph’s.
He said to be ranked as the top student in the country was one of his goals in life.
“When it comes to my studies, I set goals that I want to achieve and one of these was to be the top student in the country,” he said.
Pilon said to achieve those goals, he had to avoid distractions and discipline himself in the way that his parents taught him.
“That included, no unnecessary socialising, going out for movies during school weekend, not having access to any social media platform,” he said.
Pilon said he spent his lunch time reading a lot instead of socialising with friends and sacrificed his recesses breaks to complete his homework so he could have more time in the afternoon to do his studies. “I studied the best that I could for tests, did certainly extra reading, and went on the internet and do research to know more about a certain topic that was written in the text books and also borrowed other books from the resource centre at school to have a broader understanding on certain topics,” he said.
Pilon hoped to go to a medical school and become a doctor, specialising in cardiology.