By Robert A. Emmanuel
The 34th Annual National Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Awards will be held today at the St. John’s Pentecostal Church House of Restoration at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Previewing the awards ceremony were the top three students in the nation, representatives of the Antigua Commercial Bank (ACB) and the Ministry of Education who appeared yesterday on OBSERVER AM.
Alicia Knowles, Education Officer in the Education Broadcasting Unit with the Ministry of Education, and ACB’s Marketing and Public Relations Representative Shantia Edwards, gave brief details about today’s ceremony.
“The Ministry’s goal is always to promote and showcase the academic success of our students and whenever our students do well, we are committed to ensure that they are brought to the forefront,” Knowles said
Edwards noted that representatives of the bank will be present, stating “essentially, a member of our Board of Directors will be involved, as well as our General Manager and Manager for our Mortgage and Trust Group, physically giving them the awards and congratulating them.”
The representatives noted that they will be distributing a special prize to awardees.
Lleyton Martin, National Youth Swimmer and this year’s third place National CSEC Student, said that his achievement was down to time management and preparation.
“I would say that the preparation was quite hard for me as a swimmer because I had to balance both swimming and schoolwork,” he said, adding that it also helped that he chose subjects he enjoyed, which were mainly the sciences.
Martin said that to balance both his academic and athletic lives, he had to restrict the amount of time spent on social media and other distractions.
Simran Multani, who placed second in the CSEC examinations in the nation, attributed her accomplishment to God and the work of her teachers and school.
“Just the fact that I had excellent teachers, they put in the work and my school provided me with the environment of success, I was forced to rise to the bar and meet the challenge; my predecessors laid out the example for me to follow,” she said.
Multani noted that what helped her prepare for the CSEC examinations was paying attention in class, finishing her work, practicing past papers and working on the School Based Assessments (SBAs) which she said became more of a revision exercise for her.
“I found myself going back to my books just to review certain things to complete my SBAs and with that revision came preparation for the exams,” she said.
Keondre Herbert, who was the 2018 National and Regional Top CSEC student, said that his focus and drive to achieve high marks pushed him to what he achieved.
“I stick to my course and I decided that this was my goal and was going to work hard to achieve it,” he said, adding that he often did not leave school until 6 in the evening and often found himself doing all-nighters.
He noted his support from his family, parents and friends including Martin, who pushed him.
The top students encouraged young persons to persevere, set their goals, work hard and not to be afraid to consult with their teachers to get a better understanding of their studies