The guests came from as far a Belize, and included students from Guyana, Jamaica, and St. Vincent. “It’s amazing, the amount of potential in this room,” London said. He congratulated the recipients and told them that they were examples to the Caribbean, and that the Caribbean should be proud.
CSEC awardee, Jonas Sanchez, from Edward P. Yorke High School in Belize, passed 16 subjects and won a Technical Vocational award. London said he was seeing the future of the Caribbean. “You get bombarded with negative images. You are special people, and there’s a special responsibility placed on you.” He advised the students to take time off to enjoy who they are, and to enjoy life, because they deserved it.
CXC Pro-Registrar, Glenroy Cumberbatch, praised the students and said their achievements were to be congratulated.
Tobagonian Janeel Cowan passed 8 CAPE units at Bishop’s High School. “Since primary school, I wanted to excel,” she said. She encouraged students to always try to do their homework on time, and to always try to excel at test when London asked the students if they had any advice for others.
Division of Education, Youth Affairs, and Sport Secretary Whitney Alfred praised the young scholars. “The resources of a country is the hard work of the people. It is your diligence at your studies which caused you to be here. You have done exceedingly well.” He advised the students to take a year off between getting their bachelor’s degree and then furthering their education. “The real purpose of a second degree is to solve problems from the real world. The only way to know the real world is to work.”
Every year, the CXC chooses one country to take top students and picked Tobago for 2011.