St. John’s College & Junior College Are Tops in CSEC and CAPE Exams
Saint John’s College and Junior College produced one of the best crops for this year’s CSEC and CAPE Examinations. Over at the high school Riki Alegria is the most outstanding student for the CSEC while at the junior college, Jose Guerrero was the top scorer and the Open Scholarship recipient. In fact, the top six national students for CAPE are all from the vanguard institution. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The results for the 2016 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) are out and a whopping three hundred and sixty-six Belizean fourth form and sixth form students have received distinction. And this year, Saint John’s College High School and the Junior College students took the first place in both exams. For the CXCs, sixteen year old Rhiki Alegria obtained sixteen grade ones at the general proficiency level; one grade two and one grade three. He received first place for music, electronic document preparation and management and physical education and sport. Interestingly, Alegria topped the Primary School Education four years ago and he’ll also receive the Subject Group Award in Sciences.
Rhiki Alegria
Rhiki Alegria, 1st Place, CSEC
“I thought that I did well but I wouldn’t say that I would have thought that I would have been the most outstanding student for these Caribbean Examinations so it still came as a shock for me. I couldn’t do it without the help of others. I just mentioned Mister Ortiz. I had a music teacher, Miss Staine who helped me a lot with the SBA preparation, with P.E., that was part of our curriculum, but it was still something that I had to do out of the way. But what I tried to do, I didn’t try to take CXCs that I know I couldn’t handle. I tried to take CXCs in a systematic way where I thought I could have handled it and I ended up being able to.”
Irene Flores of Edward P. Yorke High School received second place in the CSEC with thirteen grade ones and two grade twos in the general proficiency and placed first for English B.
Jose Guerrero
Meanwhile, Saint John’s Junior College walked away with the top six spots for the CAPE. Jose Guerrero, a resident of San Ignacio, received five grade ones and three grade twos—four of which he achieved first place. While he wins the open scholarship, Guerrero is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in medicine in Cuba.
Solangel Alvarado, Dean, St John’s College Junior College
“I am happy to say that St. John’s College Student body is not only students from the city. We have a representation from all the districts in Belize: from PG from Stann Creek from Cayo from Corozal and from Orange Walk. And so when we do our recruitment it is to sell the idea that here is the stage, here are the teachers, here are the resources and here are the opportunities…you are welcome to come and receive them and work with us.”
But taking second place for the CAPE was the only female in the bunch, Nadiya Sedasey. She took nine exams and received six grade ones, two grade twos and one grade three. After receiving the news, Sedasey says that she will have to go back to the drawing board.
Nadiya Sedasey
Nadiya Sedasey, 2nd Place, CAPE
“It was very emotional; I was very shock because I knew my competition, I knew my other classmates who were taking more than I was taking and so I figured that they would have been placed ahead of me, way ahead of me and it was a really big shock when they called me and told me. It was a lot of work and a lot of stress too; a lot of independent studying I can remember that clearly. Our teachers had a lot of evening classes, a lot of extra work and we had to turn them in. So it was a lot of dedication on our part to meet the requirements for all these CAPEs especially the ones that we took on privately. The future is uncertain for me at this point. Right now I am just waiting. I had future plans but this was really unexpected so I will have to be going back to the plan book to see exactly how fast I can go and finish my studies.”
Solangel Alvarado
Interestingly, for the past ten years with the exception of 2005 and 2015, St. John’s College students have received the Open Scholarship from the Government of Belize. This, says Dean Solangel Alvarado, assures students that the institution provides opportunities.
Solangel Alvarado
“They are much deserving of this recognition. And when you talk about track record, these children come more and more with that determination to excel. St. John’s College welcomes that opportunity. These teachers are able to immediately recognize their potential, take them under their wing and work with them diligently and committed to give them as much to prepare them to excel in these particular courses. Again this is a combined effort. The students have the potential, but the teachers willingness, the support of the parents, the support of families, the support of the institution because you can have the students, you can have the teacher, but if you don’t have the proper registration, the submitting of papers…all of these things contribute to the success that these students have.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
The twenty-second annual CXC National Awards Ceremony to recognize the outstanding students is scheduled to be held on November twenty-third at Saint Catherine Academy Auditorium in Belize City. Placing third, fourth and fifth in the CAPE are Siian Rancharan, Mishek Musa and Jair Burgos, respectively.
