The Caribbean Examiner ⢠Vol 9 ⢠No 1 ⢠May 2011
The Caribbean Examiner ⢠Vol 9 ⢠No 1 ⢠May 2011
The Caribbean Examiner ⢠Vol 9 ⢠No 1 ⢠May 2011
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Examiner</strong><br />
REGIONAL TOP AWARDS<br />
Vote of Thanks delivered by Mr Nicholas Sammy,<br />
Winner of the Dennis Irvine Award for the<br />
Most Outstanding Performance at CAPE 2010<br />
Sandals Resort and Spa, Turks and Caicos Islands<br />
It is my distinct honour to be before you this<br />
evening to address you on the occasion of CXC<br />
Regional Awards Ceremony 2010. I believe that<br />
my fellow awardees have the same sentiments<br />
of pride and delight. <strong>The</strong>se past two days in the<br />
Turks and Caicos Islands have been a memorable<br />
and unforgettable experience, one that we will<br />
cherish for our entire lives.<br />
I would like to share with our audience,<br />
in a nutshell, what our activities have been for<br />
the past two days. We arrived in the Turks and<br />
Caicos on Tuesday evening, greeted by a live<br />
band and friendly staff who assisted us through<br />
Immigration and Customs. <strong>The</strong> drive to Beaches<br />
(Resort and Spa) was electric as we anticipated<br />
seeing this wonderful resort that so many of<br />
us had checked out on the Internet. When we<br />
arrived, we were treated to drinks and assisted by<br />
the hospitable receptionists in getting our room<br />
allocation sorted out. We were then led on a tour<br />
around the facility which left a lot of us in awe and<br />
literally dumbstruck by the luxury of the entire<br />
place. Yesterday’s (Wednesday 1 st December)<br />
schedule included a bus tour of Providenciales,<br />
which afforded us the opportunity to appreciate<br />
the natural beauty of the island. <strong>The</strong> blue seas<br />
continue to tantalize my mind with their tranquil<br />
turquoise hues and waves that lazily roll onto<br />
the shore. We had the opportunity to visit<br />
Clement Howard High School and interacted<br />
with the students and teachers there briefly. We<br />
also visited a cotton plantation and conch farm<br />
among other sites of interest. Today (Thursday 2 nd<br />
December), we were treated with a tour of <strong>No</strong>rth<br />
Caicos and Middle Caicos. We visited the caves,<br />
cotton plantation and the beach and besides<br />
having so much fun, I was totally drenched by<br />
the ocean blast on the rock in the middle of the<br />
sea. We had great opportunities to interact with<br />
our friendly tour guides from the island amongst<br />
the beautiful sceneries.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se past few days have certainly been<br />
marvelous for all of us awardees. It has changed<br />
us ordinary individuals who were previously<br />
unknown to each other into lifelong friends and<br />
brothers and sisters. Personally, I will treasure<br />
the memories of this trip, with the midnight pool<br />
splashes and the early-morning tennis knock with<br />
Mr Cleveland Sam. I will particularly remember<br />
Professor E. Nigel Harris presenting Nicolas Sammy with the Dennis Irvine Shield for the Most Outstanding Performance in CAPE<br />
trying to interpret what my fellow awardee from<br />
Jamaica, Mr Adrian Kellyman, was saying in his<br />
deep Jamaican accent. Mr Sam has already asked<br />
for remuneration for the numerous occasions<br />
that he provided translations for me. I still find it<br />
difficult to believe that I can understand Spanish,<br />
French and other foreign languages, but I cannot<br />
understand a different dialect of my mother<br />
tongue-English.<br />
As we near the end of this spectacular<br />
delight, on behalf of my fellow awardees, we have<br />
many thanks to give to many different persons.<br />
For the past year, and for some of us, for the past<br />
three years, the only thing we had to thank CXC<br />
for was exams. But I assure you we have more<br />
gratitude to you now. I’m actually considering<br />
joining the CXC fan page on Facebook!<br />
Firstly, I want to thank the Supreme, the<br />
Almighty, the most Divine, in whatever way we<br />
perceive Him. He has been a quiet, gentle and<br />
reassuring force pushing us forward each day<br />
of the journey. When we gave up hope of ever<br />
passing these dreadful things called exams, he<br />
provided us with comfort and strength, that is,<br />
the strength of determination and the strength<br />
to succeed. We give thanks to Him for giving us<br />
the extra push to reach the tops of our subject<br />
areas or categories, when in some cases, all we<br />
were hoping for was to pass!<br />
I also want to thank my parents: Mr Chunilal<br />
Sammy and Mrs Patricia Hochoy-Sammy. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
have been the steady support who have loved<br />
36 MAY <strong>2011</strong> www.cxc.org
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