Never give up

NAPARIMA Girls’ High School student Cassandra Khan has copped the President Gold Medal for her outstanding performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination 2018.

Khan wrote 11 subjects and passed all with grade’s one and ‘A’ profiles. The Wellington Road, Penal, student was still in a state of shock after receiving the news from her principal, Carolyn Bally-Gosine on Tuesday evening.

Her success was celebrated with students and staff during the morning worship at the school’s auditorium on Wednesday.

Khan, a lower six student, thanked God, her parents, teachers and friends for her accomplishment. She said many felt she was crazy to attempt the ambitious decision to write 11 varied subjects, including English A and B, Maths, Add-Maths, Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, French, Spanish and Theatre Arts (Dance) and during the past two years she also questioned her own sanity.

Having a passion for a lot of subjects Khan could not decide which ones she wanted to do, especially the foreign languages. Learning that with the combination she could win the President Medal, she was encouraged, but admitted at times it became overwhelming in terms of time management. In addition, she participated in the school’s musical, “Sound of Music”, was also a choir member and engaged in several clubs.

Every time she doubted herself, however, she said, “God was my refuge and strength in times of need.” She said through the challenging period, her parents Haroon and Meena Khan were always at her side, praying with her and encouraging her to persevere. When she doubted her ability, her friends she said never gave up on her. Her teachers, those who taught her from forms One to Five and those who did not, were always supportive.

Addressing her colleagues assembled in the auditorium, Khan said, “what I went through in Form 4 and 5 was very difficult. It was a lot of work. I struggled with Add Maths and Physics. I am not ashamed to say I failed Add-Maths three times, but I worked hard, persevered, I did not give up. My solution was praying, and my parents helped me. I fought through it and I succeeded in the end.

She advised her peers to follow her example and never give up. Even if you feel it is too difficult, keep working. If one subject is bothering you, keep working and persevere. Pray, persevere and keep working hard,” she challenged them. Congratulating Naps Girls’ for promoting the all-round development of students, she also encouraged the other students to engage in co and extra-curricular activities. She said her involvement in the creative arts proved to be a stress reliever. “I could not study until I danced or sang,” she said.

Principal Bally-Gosine said although Naparima Girls’ missed out in the President Medal Gold at CAPE, she was humbled and grateful for the medal at the CSEC level. For 2018, the school was awarded 31 national scholarship, 18 open and 13 additional. In addition to Khan, 24 of their students made it to the Regional Merit list for CSEC, including Sandhya Sookoo who placed first in Physics, Add Maths and Maths, as well as third in Chemistry and ninth in Biology. At the CAPE level, Unit 1, 27 students achieved multiple placings in the Regional Merit list and 16 of them in the CAPE Unit 11 2018 examination.

“Its always nice to receive the President Medal, whether at CSEC or CAPE. We have won both over the years and for the past two years, 2016 and 2017, received the President’s Silver Medal CSEC. Our girls are highly motivated to succeed, and I think Cassandra is very deserving of this award. She is really a humble, unassuming young lady, participating in so many activities in the school, yet has always maintained academic excellence. We are happy for her, we want to congratulate her parents, teachers and of course, our gratitude is to God for this.”