Charlestown-Nevis—The Charlestown Secondary School held its annual graduation and prize giving ceremony on Wednesday 11th November.
The grand occasion was held at the Cicely Grell –Hull-Dora Stevens Netball Complex, under the theme: ‘Moulding productive and conscientious citizens through integrated education.’
One of the features of the afternoon’s proceedings, was the school’s report which was delivered by long serving Headmaster at the school, Mr. Edson Elliot.
During his address, he highlighted the fact that generally, the students at the school had performed exceptionally well, as regards their overseas examinations and he took time out to congratulate them, their teachers and their parents for their outstanding achievements.
Some of the statistics revealed in his report were as follows:
For the school term under review, the school had attendance of 832 students: 386 males and 446 females.
Of that number, 114 were enrolled into the first forms and 97 at the Nevis Sixth form college.
For the CAPE examinations, 145 students took the exams in 19 subject areas.
Out of 588 subject entries, there were 479 passes with a resulting percentage of 81.46%.
For the CAPE year two students:
There were 55 candidates in 18 subject areas. Of the 265 subject entries, there were 232 unit passes, with a resulting 87.5%.
CAPE year two: 95 students in 18 subject areas. 323 subject entries with 247 unit passes, with a resulting 76.5%
Tyler Martin was the top student in 6A, with six grade one units. Mr. Elliot noted that the standard is seven for the qualification as the state’s scholar but if there is no such person, someone with six would receive the prestigious award.
Second was Necolai Williams; third, Ajani Nisbett and fourth, Richard Matthew.
For the CSEC examinations, there were 96 students with 655 subject entries. There were 537 subject passes with a percentage of 80.8%.
The top students were:
Nikayla Tyson-15 subjects—11 grade ones and 4 grade twos
Cheslyn Maloney-14 subjects-11 grade ones and 3 grade twos
Yvado Simmonds-10 subjects with 8 grade ones.
He made special mention of the fact that Cheslyn Maloney was the number one student in Agricultural Science, in the entire Caribbean.
Also addressing the sizeable gathering, was Premier of Nevis and Minister of Education, Hon. Vance Amory. He congratulated Mr. Elliot and his staff for their dedication to work, persistence and willingness to do a lot with little. He also congratulated them for working with the children under challenging circumstances.
He applauded the children for a job well done and opined that they had received a sound education at the Charlestown Secondary School.
He also praised the CSS cricket team for winning the Federation championship yet again and stated that he wished some of their successes could rub off on the Nevis team and by extension, the West Indies team.
The featured speaker of the day, was past student and youthful Attorney at law, who was recently called to the bar, Miss Michelle Slack.
She spoke on the theme: “What you reap, is what you sow.’
‘Graduants, the world is your oyster,’ she stated. She related the story of a woman who sat on her verandah each morning, waiting for flowers to grow up in her yard, but only saw weeds.
‘What you put in is what you get out. The grass is not greener on the other side. The grass is greener where you water it,’ she said, while differentiating between WATCHERS and WATERERS.
Brilliantly crafted valedictory speeches were also delivered by Miss Nekhaila Tyson –CSEC; Mr. Tyler Martin-CAPE and Mr. Chris –Andrew Smith-CCSLC.
The proceedings were ably chaired by Mrs. Cleone Simmonds and the school’s choir and the graduating class also rendered musical items.