Top high school graduates honoured in ceremony

The names of the top performers were announced last week and today the nation’s leading high school graduates received their formal recognition. News Five’s Kendra Griffith reports.

Ian Lizarraga, Most Outstanding
?Sorry, you?re not good enough. There can only be one number one and you?re not it … But four years later, here I am.?

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
Today Ian Lizarraga made a former teacher eat his words … declared Most Outstanding Candidate in the 2006 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examinations, Lizarraga joined over six hundred students from around country at the S.J.C. Gym where they were recognized for their academic efforts.

Ian Lizarraga
?All of us who have gotten awards for the C.X.C. are winners. We have withstood all the tasks, we have studied our little brains out and we?ve come out on top ready to take on the world.?

Lizarraga, a former student at St. John?s College, obtained ten grade ones and two grade twos in the general proficiency test to become Belize?s top student.

Nuri Lizarraga, Ian?s Mother
?We are very, very proud of him, we are very happy, we are very proud of him. Ian deserves everything that he got because he?s very hardworking, he?s very conscientious, so he works towards this and he got it, so we are very happy for him.?

Ten grade ones in her general papers earned Aimee Flores the rank of Outstanding Student.

Aimee Flores, Outstanding Student
?I just reviewed my work, studied, paid attention in class throughout. That was it, I did my best.?

Misael Flores, Aimee?s Father
?I am very proud, she has continued to excel from she started Mrs. Bennet school she was doing well, from Holy Redeemer she continued to excel and St. Catherine and we?re very proud parents.?

But these top students say they could not have done it alone … teachers and especially parents, played an integral role in their success.

Aimee Flores
?I think everybody needs that support system. Sometimes you feel like you can?t do it and they are always there to tell you that you can and to try harder.?

Kendra Griffith
?What type of support do you all give Aimee??

Misael Flores
?We try to make sure that she has a good home. We try to make sure that she has a good study environment, that she has enough free time to play as well as to do her school work. We don?t pressure her. She pressures herself enough, so we don?t need pressure her, we just give her the support and she continues to excel and we are very proud of her.?

Nuri Lizarraga
?It is very important. I think once you become a parent then you take the second place, your child comes first. Everything that you do in life when you have a child it is supposed to be for the child and I do believe parents play a very important role part, like Ian said, they mould you, you never forget a teacher, whether it is a good teacher or a bad teacher, you never forget, so a teacher is a very, very important part in a child?s life.?

According to Deputy Chief Education Officer and Chair of the CXC National Committee, Alan Genitty, 2006 was one of Belize?s best years.

Alan Genitty, Deputy Chief Education Officer
?Definitely over the years we have seen tremendous improvement. Last year we had about six hundred and three students, this year we have about six hundred and forty-one, so it?s an improvement overall and I think it might have been a bit better had we not had a decline in one subject area, which was English B. C.X.C. introduced a new syllabus, which was first examined in 2006 and Belize and the rest of the region, their performance in English B, which is literature, fell dramatically. So we are trying to find out from C.X.C. was the real cause for that performance. I believe that had our students performed as they would normally perform in English B our performance would have been even better.?

And now that they?ve conquered the C.X.C., what does the future hold for these outstanding students?

Ian Lizarraga
?Anything, you have to keep an eye on me. I don?t know. I?ll do my best and I?ll see what happens.?

Aimee Flores
?I am hoping to be a scientist doing work in stem cell research.?

Receiving a certificate of excellence and a plaque for being the Regional Award winner in Visual Arts was S.J.C. student Jai Wu. Jai will be further recognised at a ceremony in St. Kitts on November thirtieth.

Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

Besides their plaques and certificates, Aimee and Ian also received full scholarships to S.J.C. sixth form, where they are both students, and a laptop computer. All other awardees received tuition scholarships to the tertiary institution of their choice.