Odero Ernie Atieno of Olympic Primary School who produced a stellar performance in this year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations results which were announced on Wednesday has revealed her secret of success.
The 14-year-old could not hide her joy as this writer talked to her about her feelings, not because she got more than 400 marks but also for emerging top of her class.
"I really feel very happy," said Ernie who scored 415 marks out of the possible 500 marks.
"I feel happy and proud because I deserved to get this having worked hard for it," she added.
Ernie who wants to become a neurosurgeon, wants to join Alliance Girls High School and later the University of Nairobi.
Her ambition to pursue medicine is driven by her desire to help residents of the slum to better their lives.
She attributed her performance to hard work and discipline.
"I really worked hard and I never wasted time doing things that would be of no help to my academics. I was also very disciplined until it became hard for teachers to find any mistake to punish me for," said a jubilant Ernie.
She challenged next year's candidates to emulate her hard work if they want to get even better results.