Hard work, discipline, respect and attention for her teachers led to her success, says one of the top performing students in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
Ashisha Nirupa Persad, a former student of Naparima Girls’ High School, said she was not surprised by her achievement after she was announced as one of two President’s Gold Medal winners by Education Minister Anthony Garcia.
“I am really excited to bring some glory to my school,” she said in an interview at the school yesterday.
Shivrani Prabhudial, of Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College, was announced as the other girl who copped the President’s Gold Medal. She will be honoured by her school this morning.
The diminutive Persad, who stands just over four feet, also broke the school’s dry seven-year spell since they won their last Presidental Medal, making it 13 to date.
Persad is the second of two daughters for Dr Rambachan Persad and mother Carmen, a financial manager, of Gulf View.
Her elder sister, Sitara, who also attended Naps Girls’ also won an open scholarship (mathematics) in 2012 and is pursuing engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
Saying her sister is her inspiration, Persad also intends to head to MIT in the next year, after taking some time off to relax, to pursue a similar path.
Surrounded by her proud parents, principal Caroline Bally-Gosein and teachers, Persad said having earned ten distinctions at the CSEC level which won her the President’s Medal, Gold, in 2013 and ten distinctions as well in CAPE in the area of information technology, mathematics, physics and chemistry and Caribbean communication over the two years.
Her dad said he too was not surprised that his daughters had both won scholarships because of their dedication and discipline.
“I always thought they had it in them to excel and they have done that, so I an very proud and very happy for their accomplishment,” he said.
He and his wife also showered praises on the principal and staff for their commitment and dedication to the all- round development of students at the school.
“She is a joy to have as a child,” mom Carmen said.
Forty-five girls, including Persad, set a new record for their alma mater by winning an unprecedented 45 of the 443 national scholarships based on the CAPE results released yesterday.
They also set a new record of 17 of the 102 open scholarships awarded, beating last year’s record of 10 open and 23 additional.
Principal Caroline Bally-Gosine was overjoyed with the school’s results.
“This is the icing on what I was hoping to be a very large cake and I am not disappointed,” Bally-Gosine said yesterday as she hugged and congratulated Persad for bringing glory once more to the Presbyterian-run all girls high school.
“I am truly happy with the results. It is the first time the school has won 45 scholarships and also the highest number of open scholarships. This success is indeed an inspiration to our Sixth Form students and our younger girls,”she added.
However, the principal said the crowning glory would by no means lull them into complacency but drive them to further excellence.
“At this school we don’t just aim for academic excellence, we focus on the holistic, overall development of the child but we aim to break more records.
“There is always room for improvement and when we examine what we have done we will not rest on our laurels. We intend to better and break this record.”
Mayor’s Congratulations
San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein also extended congratulations to Ashisha and the 44 other scholarship winners, saying they have brought great pride to the city of San Fernando.
He also congratulated his alma mater, Naparima College, on its achievement of 40 scholarships and encouraged all the young men “to step up to the challenge set by our young women.”
To the winners, he said: “Your success continues in the legacy of excellence long established by the primary and secondary schools of our city.
“Our schools’ performances show that San Fernando is not only the energy capital but the educational capital of T&T.”