Top secondary students honoured

Despite recognized deficiencies in parts of our educational system statistics say that our secondary school students continue to improve. Today the best of those performers were honoured for their efforts.

Patrick Jones, Reporting

Since 1999, the number of students receiving national awards for excellence in the CXC has been steadily rising. This year, a record four hundred and ninety six young men and women from all over the country received citations for passing six or more subjects in the 2004 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examinations. Belize?s top performers this year were Charmaine Chinapen and Wilhelm Casey; both told News Five that they had to overcome many challenges to achieve their recognition.

Charmaine Chinapen, 1st Place Awardee

?I?ve always been determined and driven and it?s nice to se you work come to fruition. And when you get that rewarded it makes you want to work harder and makes you want to push yourself harder and work harder, so it?s going to be motivation.?

Patrick Jones

?How much work went into getting you the top honour??

Charmaine Chinapen

?Oh I really thought the subjects were interesting and I did work. I actually do a lot of other stuff on the side, so I could only study on Saturdays, like for one hour. And it was three months so that?s a couple weekends, and like three days before the actual exam. But something really made it hard because I had a death in my family right before the exams and I never dealt with it before and it was someone very close to me, and that was the hardest thing, trying to study whilst doing that. It was really hard.?

Wilhelm Casey, 2nd Place Awardee

?Well it?s a real honour for me to be able to accept this award. I mean out of so many students it feels good to be in second place. And it?s a real pleasure for me to accept this.?

Patrick Jones

?What did you do to get this honour??

Wilhelm Casey

?Basically I just studied and with the help of good teachers from muffles, and my friends encouraged me and I just studied and I basically passed.?

Casey and Chinapen both achieved nine grade one passes at the general/technical proficiency level, but Chinapen earned two, grade two passes to make her Belize?s top performer for 2004.

Charmaine Chinapen

?It?s just amazing, honestly speaking I?ve worked so hard and it?s just amazing. I remember hearing about it and I was just in complete shock, because I honestly didn?t expect it at all. Like you always look in the newspapers and you see it and you are like oh that?s nice, but you never expect that one day, that would be you its just amazing and shocking.?

Chairman of the CXC National Committee Alan Genitty says that with so many young Belizeans doing well in the regional exam, it is a good sign that we are ready to take our place in the coming CARICOM Single Market and economy.

Alan Gennitty, Chairman, CXC National Award

?Belize is, I believe, in my opinion holding its own where CXC and the performance at the academic, vocational and technical level, business level is concerned, as far as secondary school education is concerned. As you know the CSEC examination is a regional examination which has currency not only in Belize, but regionally and also internationally. So definitely if we use the CXC as one of the criteria to measure the standard of our education, then we are doing quite well in terms of the passes in that level.?

But comparing well with the rest of the region is not an overnight accomplishment. Both Chinapen and Casey say it takes hard work and dedication to earn a place in the spotlight.

Wilhelm Casey, 2nd Place Awardee

?Right now I am studying biology and chemistry at UB and I plan to be a doctor in the future.?

Patrick Jones

?What advice would you have for other young people??

Wilhelm Casey

?Well be around good friend. Because they really encourage you to do good in school. And have a close relationship with your teachers, and study hard, work hard.?

Charmaine Chinapen

?Keep working, don?t give up. Don?t listen to what other people say or think about you. You have to follow your own dream, and your own heart and your own desire.?

And no where was that more vividly demonstrated than when guest speaker Einstein Bodden addressed the packed auditorium. He used his special circumstances to challenge the awardees to never close the door on their learning.

Einstein Bodden, Guest Speaker, CXC National Awards

?I had a kind of hard time I could say because I am unable to walk but I guess anything is possible once you believe in yourself and God.?

Patrick Jones

?What advice do you have for other young people??

Einstein Bodden

?I would say just believe in yourself, work at your best at all times and put God first in your life.?

This year, the CXC National Committee expanded the awards to include a wider range of outstanding students. This included thirty seven students from the forty two CXC centres in the country who received certificates of recognition for being the top performers in their particular schools.

In addition to certificates of recognition, Chinapen and Casey also received tuition scholarships and computers from Minister of Education Francis Fonseca. Casey is currently attending the University of Belize, while Chinapen says she is weighing her options with a view to returning to the classroom in January.

The CXC national committee also recognized past students from 2002 and 2003 whose performance in the CSEC exam merited special mention.