It took one of life's curve balls to help Nicholas Gomez find his place. Of course, Gomez may refer to it as a googly, being a former cricketer. "I played a lot of sport, but my favourite sport was cricket. I played for Fatima," reminisced Gomez, a former EY (Ernst &Young) country manager for Trinidad and Tobago.
Gomez left his position at one of the world's top four accounting companies in August this year to pursue a lifelong ambition, no, not cricket, but coaching and mentoring teenagers. But cricket plays an important role in bringing him to this point.
In 1982, Gomez entered Lower Six. He had his A-Level subjects picked: math, physics and chemistry. He had the game. Until one afternoon practice session.
"I was training and my coach Kenny Roberts pulled me aside and said there is something wrong," said Gomez, who was bowling. The coach's experienced eye had picked up something wrong with Gomez's delivery.
"My family took me to a back specialist and he concluded that I had a spinal condition, which needed to be operated on, because if I fell awkwardly, I could be paralysed." Alarmed by the diagnosis, Gomez's family took him abroad where another doctor confirmed the news, but told them that he could continue playing for the while.
"So I came back to college having missed some school," said Gomez. "I asked them to repeat Lower Six, dropped physics and picked up economics."
This is the first time Gomez said he realised how alone students preparing for exams could
be.
"They presented me with a text book. It was like an encyclopaedia and I have to tell you extremely intimidating. I actually did not engage with it."
The former EY country manager said he eventually found some economics texts that he could follow.
"The moral of that story is that when I was actually confronted with this textbook, I told myself there must be a way you can be in service to kids and not make it as daunting as that. It occurred to me that this was something I could do later on, an area in which I could contribute."
Making tough decisions
In the meantime he sat exams and left Fatima in 1984. He continued playing cricket, this time on the national under-19 team. However, what he really wanted was a spot on the national team, but his condition was always at the back of his mind. "I was also a little concerned about when would I make the team," he said. "You had all the big honchos back in the day, the team was fantastic, unbeatable."
While preparing for his shot at national trials, he tutored Math, an experience he said he thoroughly enjoyed, not only because he was able to teach, but because he was able to coach and mentor his younger charges. He then went to work for Pannell Kerr Forster, the firm that eventually became the T&T branch of EY.
"I worked there for a number of months and then got a scholarship to go abroad, one of four players, to Alf Grove Cricket School, where all of the West Indies cricketers went for coaching," Gomez recalled.
He also played cricket with the Queen's Park Cricket Club as well as the T&T team. "I played against England. It was a very enjoyable experience. I batted at number 3 and in the second innings made 39. But in that moment, when I left the field, I felt I had to make a decision about what I was going to do.
"I decided to stop playing to pursue a career in accounting. It was the most difficult decision in my life. It was probably very sensible and practical but I had to stop cold turkey. The reason was I was such a competitive athlete and I couldn't play. People ask me why I stopped all the time, but I never played cricket after that. I rejoined EY in January 1991." At EY, Gomez had the opportunity to mentor young people all of the time.
"I loved working at EY and what was so special about it, I think, it is a fabulous environment for young people aspiring to be professionals, accountants, financial comptrollers, finance directors. The environment, while intense, provided a vast depth of experience in all forms."
Gomez came through the ranks, attaining the position of Assurance Leader for the region, as well as being country manager. But in the last three years, his thoughts again returned to the troubles young people all over the country were having. During this period, he took up giving lessons at a homework centre run by the St. Finbar's Roman Catholic Church. "The children were from areas like La Puerta and what became apparent to me was the lack of engagement and the waning engagement between student and teacher," said Gomez, "I saw all these kids who started to dislike education and I thought this was so unfortunate because education is a gift to all of us, learning new stuff is a gift. I couldn't sit back any longer and do nothing about it. I had this compelling feeling and started to think about how I could intervene."
In those three years, the form of that "intervention" took shape and solidified late last year. Regarding the lack of engagement he saw, Gomez thought about how teens interacted with their laptops and smartphones.
"The idea was, if we could leverage technology, approaches that are inspiring, motivating and engaging. If we can bring that to the table in an exciting, fun environment, there was a greater probability that we could enhance engagement. Those words that I mentioned to you are very powerful words, not easy to generate."
He knew if he was going to take on this project it would have to be soon. He was nearing 50.
"The project required a whole lot of energy and a whole heap of courage. I couldn't say that at the age of 60, if I stayed at EY that I would have the energy to take that on." And in August 2015, making what he termed the "second most difficult decision of his life," Gomez said goodbye to the accounting firm.
A 'light bulb' goes on
Partnering with Scott Hilton-Clarke Gomez came up with the concept for Exam- Guru. Private lessons centres have proliferated in a society that has always seen education as the ultimate stepping stone. But the numbers show that something has been going wrong with our education system, and possibly, the private lessons industry which has sprung up around it, for some time now.
Gomez said he has reviewed CXC results for the past several years. Typically, for Accounting, two-thirds of the 24,000 students sitting it were failing. In Math, twothirds of 95,000 students around the region sitting the exam were failing.
Results were particularly dismal for the the multiple choice and long paper segments, but a hint at where the system may be failing students lies in the fact that many made up much needed marks in the SBA (School Based Assessment) segment.
"This is where the teachers support the kids and help them," said Gomez, a critical component of the ExamGuru experience he and Hilton-Clarke want to offer. Too often, said Gomez, the focus was on getting students to pass the exam, with memorisation and rote learning.
"I think every individual in life needs coaching and mentorship.The school environment is somewhere coaching and mentorship must be provided as well."
According to Gomez, ExamGuru "is a catalyst to demonstrate that with expert facilitation in a fun, immersive environment, kids can build the capacity to ace the exam." Gomez said ExamGuru is guided by one philosophy: "If they (the students) bring the will, we'll give them the skill".
Add to this is a cutting-edge facility, currently being constructed at Bay Road in St. James, called the "Light Bulb." The building is a place Gomez envisions teenagers will be able to come together and collaborate, or have quiet study time. When completed, the Light Bulb will feature glass and white writing walls, high speed Internet access, computers, tablets and a cafe. It is expected that the facility will be completed some time in December.
Gomez said so far, accounting is Exam- Guru's only subject offering, with himself as tutor. Given his 25 years experience in the area, he thought this would be the best subject to pilot the project.
Eventually though, he wants to branch into other subject areas and use the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) format of delivery to have online broadcasts of lecturers by some of the best subject teachers in the country.
Public/Private partnership in education ExamGuru is a private enterprise. "No funding other than the owners. So I have to charge a fee. I can't not charge a fee. I have no way of doing that financially at this point," said Gomez. " This is private enterprise, stepping into a space that has always been held as a public good."
The former EY country manager said he has been leveraging his contacts within the business community, has been having meetings with several people who are very supportive of the concept.
If the pilot is successful, Gomez plans to eventually approach the Ministry of Education to partner with it to mainstream the project.
"I feel that private enterprise needs to step into certain roles and this is an ideal opportunity for a private/public partnership. Government can at least allow private enterprise to show the way, together we can collaborate on how this can becoming more widespread.
"Private enterprise has to take a greater role in society and step up their game and let us not just continue to look at government to make everything happen. I think there is a place for private enterprise to step into things that they may not have traditionally. That can make a huge difference in society."
Gomez told the Sunday BG that he has had meetings with several school principals in the vicinity and he has been well received.
The registration process is ongoing and classes are expected to begin in January2016.