The Caribbean Examiner • Vol 9 • No 1 • May 2011

The Caribbean Examiner
Dr Didacus Jules (4th from left), Registrar of CXC presenting His Excellency Gordon Wetherell, Governor of Turks and Caicos Islands with a painting during a courtesy call. Witnessing are L to R: Glenroy
Cumberbatch, Pro Registrar; Mr David Bowen, Chairman, CXC National Committee; Dr Beatrice Fulford, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education in Turks and Caicos Islands; Professor E. Nigel
Harris(2nd from right), Chairman of CXC and Sir Kenneth Hall, Past Chairman of CXC.
Awards Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony of the Council
Meeting and Presentation of Awards for
Outstanding Performances in the May/June
2010 examinations followed on Thursday
evening. It was an evening of Caribbean pride,
TCI cultural explosion, awards, speeches and a
tinge of humour.
Following the parade of the 16 national
flags of CXC Participating Countries by the
Pathfinders, Robyn Hinds thrilled the audience
with the rendition of the National Anthem and
the TCI National Song.
Speeches by Professor E. Nigel Harris,
Chairman of CXC; Dr Didacus Jules, Registrar
and Dr Beatrice Fulford, Permanent Secretary
in the Ministry of Education were punctuated
by three captivating cultural performances. The
TCI Cultural Group captured the spirit of the
yuletide season with a medley of Christmas
songs, featuring Edwardson Jean on violin and
Sophie Grice on keyboard.
The Combined Schools Choir performed a
piece entitled Heroes Through Time, an adaptation
of Mariah Carey’s song Hero. The performance
notes to the piece explained, “It is a now, in the
moment song that begs us to recognise the many
heroes in our lives who challenge us, educate us,
pray for us and love us!”
A mélange of drama, percussion and
traditional folklore characterised the final
energetic performance by the TCI Cultural
Group which told the story of hard toil in the
salt ponds of the Turks and Caicos Islands in
years gone by.
Errol Jaikaransingh, Principal of Presentation
College, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
put smiles on the faces in the audience as he
humoured them about the performances of
his school and some of the personalities it has
produced in its relatively short history. As he
introduced Nicolas Sammy, the Dennis Irvine
Award winner for 2010, he left the audience in
no doubt about the ambition of Presentation
College, San Fernando to retain the title of CAPE
School of the Year in 2011.
Sammy followed in a similar vein, as he gave
the vote of thanks on behalf of the 17 awardees
and told of the friendships formed, lessons
learnt and of the “memorable and unforgettable
experience, one that we will cherish for our
entire lives.”
Interactions
During the time in the Turks and Caicos
Islands, the Ministry of Education arranged
for local students from the high schools to
accompany the awardees on tours to places of
interest. This facilitated interactions between the
awardees and TCI students.
One of the first places the awardees visited
was the world-renowned Conch farm. During
the visit to the farm, they were given lessons
on the growth and life cycle of conch and were
able to touch conchs of varying sizes. For some
of the awardees this was the first time they were
seeing live conch.
They also visited the Clement Howell High
School, an old cotton plantation, a refurbished
slave house, caves on the islands and took a boat
trip to North and Middle Caicos.
The words of Dorien Villafranco, the Most
Outstanding CSEC Candidate summed it up
for all the awardees; “These couple of days spent
with the awardees passed quickly, too quickly in
my opinion, but I’m sure that we all produced
memories that will last a lifetime.”
Members of the Turks and Caicos Islands Cultural Group performing during the Opening Ceremony and Regional Top Awards
Presentation
www.cxc.org MAY 2011 31