President's Medal winner credits determination for success

ALICIA Dipchan has defied the odds by winning an open scholarship and copping one of the President’s Awards for Cape2024 without taking any extra lessons as has become the norm.

She told the Newsday moments after learning of her success in the examination on December 5, despite her excellent academic achievements, “I never liked to study."

Sheer determination and the drive to excel to change her circumstances led her to study on her own and kept her "woke" (conscious, aware), the St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando student said.

“I never did extra classes like other students. I studied on my own because I knew I wanted to do well."

Nevertheless, Dipchan, who plays the guitar and has performed at school events and as a backstage hand for others, said she lived a very balanced life.

“I don’t like studying. With languages, it did not feel like studying. I have a passion for languages, so that was easy.

"I wanted to do well, so I had to apply myself to the other areas of study.

“It’s really determination that brought me here today.”

She said she was shocked and excited when her principal Nadine Joseph-Dennie called to tell her she was one of two recipients of the 2024 President Medal.

The other President Medal recipient is Teddy Mohammed of Hillview College. He earned it for excelling in natural science.

Although she has been an excellent student and had meritorious placements in both Cape Unit 1 and Unit 2, Dipchan said, “I knew it (winning President Gold) was a possibility, but I did not think it would become a reality.”

She has been on the Cape regional merit list in 2023 and 2024, achieving top spots in Unit 1: Spanish (1st), French (2nd) and Caribbean studies (9th).

In the Unit 2 merit list, she placed fourth in French and sixth in Spanish and geography.

The young scholar chose an eclectic blend of subjects as her course of study to ensure the opportunity presented itself for her to fit into any one of the areas of learning.

“I always wanted something with versatility that could expose me to a lot of different fields.”

She has been the top-performing student in business studies, creative and performing studies, general studies, language studies, modern studies/humanities and technical studies.

She has taken a gap year to determine exactly where she will settle but now is leaning towards international business.

For the Vistabella scholar, attending university at St Augustine was her original plan. The open scholarship in languages has opened the doors for her to explore her options abroad.

Her grandmother Anne and dad Nigel, with whom she lives, also expressed pride in her achievements.

Also beaming with pride, Joseph-Dennie shared with Newsday her reaction to learning about her students' and school’s success.

“On a funny side note, I was just about to sit in a chair at the hairdresser’s when a teacher shared it with me.

"I started screaming and jumping up. The hairdresser asked what was going on.

“She has a child attending Convent, so she too was very delighted.

“It has been an afternoon of sincere congratulations from the fraternity of principals from other schools. Our teachers, students, we are over the moon, excited, ecstatic.”

She said the last time St Joseph’s Convent won a President Medal was in 2018. This year, the school copped four open and two additional scholarships.

Open scholarship winner in the field of environment, Alexei Aqui, is presently in Barbados, receiving one of the top awards for excellence in the region.

“With Alexei winning that award and Alicia winning the President’s Medal, we are happy.

"We have students who won open and additional scholarships, plus many other students who really did well, earning ones and twos but unable to qualify for the scholarships.

“We continue to be proud of our students, but this afternoon was just a special touch of excellence.”

She said the school will recognise and celebrate Dipchan’s success. She was invited as a special guest at the school’s Song and Dance competition at the Southern Academy for Performing Arts (SAPA) on Thursday evening.