The Naval Cadet Platoon of St. Paul’s Girls School Milagiriya re-commenced after a lapse of 10 years in 2016 under the appropriate guidance and supervision of their dedicated and hardworking principal Sumedha Jayaweera who was also at one time the middle school principal of Royal College.
The journey to this successful victory was exceptional as in the first instance they were selected to the De Soysa trophy, grabbing the third place at the second Naval Assessment Camp and thus achieving the rare honour of becoming overall 13th among the schools cadet platoons.
In the year 2018 they became first runners up at the Naval Cadet first Assessment Camp which was held on June 25, 2018 at Rantambe Cadet Training Centre and thereby selected for the De Soysa trophy.
When going through the history this was not an easy task as there were so many difficulties and challenges they came across but the school cadet team had the heart and courage to face them strongly and get over the obstacles with success due to the sheer encouragement and guidance of their principal Sumedha Jayaweera, a model mother and leader who uplifted the morale of the entire school cadet team along with teacher in charge of the platoon Kusala Dharmasekara to achieve this honourable victory.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Observer- teacher in charge of the cadet platoon Second Leiutanant Kusala Dharmasekara said: “We are very proud to announce that our schoolgirl Umedha Lakshani, has qualified as a sharpshooter and successfully completed the requirements for the 10 meter Air Rifle competition held in May at Royal College. The event was organized by the Sri Lanka Schools Shooting Sports Association and we initiated this event under the supervision of none other than our dedicated and hardworking madam principal Jayaweera and we hereby convey our heartfelt gratitude for her guidance and all the necessary required instructions as well as advise”.
Principal Sumedha Jayaweera said: “I am really proud of my girls because they went through real hardships to earn this victory and achieved it even without them having any rifles for their practices. So frankly speaking this is a magnificent victory for our school and honestly this is the right time to serve your alma mater. So am inviting all the past Paulians to join hands to serve their alma mater to gain more success and victories in future and rising to the occasion with pride”.