BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ANOTHER milestone has been recorded in the history of the Sandy Point High School as almost 80 students graduated from the institution yesterday (Nov. 12) at the school’s 43rd Annual Speech Day and Graduation Ceremony.
The alfresco event attracted dozens of education officials, parents, teachers and community partners of the school to support the graduating class of 2009 and to acknowledge the successes of the secondary school over the last academic year.
Harmonious renditions from the school choir and motivational poetry coupled with the display of colourful dances set the stage in a celebratory mood to acknowledge the significant strides made by staff and students.
In the last sitting of Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Caribbean Secondary Education certificate (CSEC), the school entered 83 students who were able to return 80% and above pass rates in 19 of the 26 subject areas. At the level of the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC), the school was able to qualify over 50 of its students with the new high school certificate.
Erian Jeffers of Sandy Point and Khurdi Wallace of Newton Ground were named Female and Male Students with the best CXC results. Jeffers emerged top student with 11 subject passes, of which eight were marked with distinction. Wallace’s 10 subject passes and five distinctions placed him above all the other males in the graduating class.
As is the tradition, five teachers and school partners received the SPHS 2009 Speech Day Award and were recognized for their dedicated service and unwavering support to the institution. Collette Lewis and Allan Rogers were the teachers who received this award, while Beulah Elliott, Trevor Glasgow and Kenrick Isaac were awarded for their continued partnership.
Past student of the secondary school Laverne Caines delivered the feature address and charged graduates and teachers alike to live out the theme of the school year ‘Broadening our educational horizons’. She noted that being part of a global village gives myriad opportunities to do so, adding that students must therefore “think outside the box” in order to take advantage of such opportunities.
“We are no longer competing for jobs locally, but if we properly prepare ourselves we can take advantage of global opportunities once we develop the most relevant skill sets.
“As we seek to broaden our educational horizons, it is important to understand the trends and projections in our local economy as we choose our career paths. It is widely believed that we are approaching the saturation point for lawyers, but do we have enough software engineers, programme managers, systems administrators or web developers,” she said, giving the audience much food for thought.
The envied Hyligar and Hyliger Trophy and the James Pemberton award for excellence in athletics were both awarded to Blue House, which has shown a consistently high performance throughout the past year.
The ceremony, although marking the end of high school careers, signifies the beginning of higher academic pursuits as the school continues to embody its motto: Scholastic Perseverance Harvests Success.
