RAD­HI­CA DE­SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Ju­bi­la­tion filled Hillview Col­lege yes­ter­day, as friends Ryk­er Har­richa­ran and Nish­ka Ma­haraj achieved an ex­tra­or­di­nary feat by both se­cur­ing Pres­i­dent’s Gold medals fol­low­ing their per­for­mances at the 2023 Caribbean Ad­vanced Pro­fi­cien­cy Ex­am­i­na­tions (CAPE). Their suc­cess led Hillview to se­cure a record-break­ing 13 Gov­ern­ment schol­ar­ships.

Har­richa­ran and Ma­haraj had been friends since pre-school. Har­richa­ran at­tained the high­est scores in En­vi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, In­for­ma­tion Com­mu­ni­ca­tion/Tech­nol­o­gy, Math­e­mat­ics and Nat­ur­al Sci­ences, while Ma­haraj was the top stu­dent in Busi­ness, Cre­ative and Per­form­ing Stud­ies, Gen­er­al Stud­ies, Lan­guage Stud­ies, Mod­ern Stud­ies/Hu­man­i­ties and Tech­ni­cal Stud­ies.

Both earned Open Schol­ar­ships—Har­richa­ran in Nat­ur­al Sci­ences and Ma­haraj in Cre­ative and Per­for­mance Stud­ies.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia last night, Hillview Col­lege prin­ci­pal Sharon Ramdeen ex­pressed sheer ela­tion at the stu­dents’ achieve­ments and cel­e­brat­ed the school’s un­prece­dent­ed achieve­ment.

“This is a his­toric mo­ment, a his­toric mile­stone in the his­to­ry of T&T. Nev­er be­fore has any sec­ondary school got one boy and one girl get­ting the Pres­i­dent’s Medal,” she said.

She added, “All glo­ry to God. I thank the hard-work­ing teach­ers and the ded­i­cat­ed par­ents who worked with these chil­dren to make them be­come the best of the best. They are hum­ble chil­dren from hum­ble homes and we want to say con­grat­u­la­tions to them. Amaz­ing­ly, they have been able to cop two gold medals for Hillview and T&T.”

Mean­while, the stu­dents shared their se­crets to suc­cess.

Har­richa­ran said win­ning a schol­ar­ship was some­thing he had been work­ing to­wards, as he high­light­ed the im­por­tance of bal­ance and ded­i­ca­tion.

“I faced mi­nor chal­lenges with stay­ing dis­ci­plined and fo­cused but I was able to get over those by re­mem­ber­ing that I had to be ded­i­cat­ed to my stud­ies,” Har­richa­ran re­vealed.

His par­ents, Dr Rod­ney and Vi­t­ra Har­richa­ran, praised his com­mit­ment and out­stand­ing ef­forts.

Dr Har­richa­ran said, “Yes, we know Ryk­er is ex­treme­ly bright and we were ex­pect­ing this. Ryk­er is very mo­ti­vat­ed and lev­el-head­ed.”

Vi­t­ra said her son was al­ways in­volved in ex­tracur­ric­u­lar ac­tiv­i­ties, in­clud­ing swim­ming, karate and mu­sic.

“He al­ways helped his friends and made time to help them with Maths and Physics. He would do his work and he en­joyed his lessons,” Vi­t­ra said.

They al­so re­vealed that God plays a very im­por­tant role in their fam­i­ly and this was the se­cret to his suc­cess.

Mean­while, Ma­haraj’s moth­er, Nali­ni Kokaram, broke down in tears af­ter hear­ing that her daugh­ter had se­cured the Pres­i­dent’s Gold.

“I am blown away by these re­sults. I knew she had it in her to do this. I am so proud. She worked re­al­ly hard,” Kokaram said.

She said Ma­haraj’s grand­fa­ther Richard Kokaram was a for­mer prin­ci­pal of Hillview Col­lege and the suc­cess of his grand­daugh­ter was an achieve­ment that the en­tire fam­i­ly was proud of.

In ad­di­tion to the two Pres­i­dent’s Gold, 11 more stu­dents re­ceived schol­ar­ships.

Al­so re­ceiv­ing an Open Schol­ar­ship was Ly­ronne Sealy for In­for­ma­tion and Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Stud­ies.

Sealy said his achieve­ment was a bit­ter­sweet one, how­ev­er, as he had lost his fa­ther Lindsworth to can­cer sev­er­al years ago. His moth­er Shu­ra Lind­say-Sealy be­came his main sup­port af­ter his fa­ther died.

When he heard the news, Sealy said he grabbed his moth­er and hugged her.

“I couldn’t be­lieve it. I was so hap­py. I ran to my mom and hugged her. It was nice to have a mo­ment like this. She is so proud of me,” Sealy said.

Say­ing he liked to think that his fa­ther was look­ing at him with pride, Sealy en­cour­aged oth­ers.

“It is im­por­tant to keep fo­cused and to stay dili­gent. The on­ly way to achiev­ing suc­cess is through hard work and ded­i­ca­tion,” he added.

For the aca­d­e­m­ic year 2022/2023, the Gov­ern­ment award­ed 100 schol­ar­ships com­pris­ing 45 Open and 55 Ad­di­tion­al Schol­ar­ships. Of the 100 schol­ar­ships, 60 per cent were award­ed to fe­male stu­dents, while 40 per cent were award­ed to male stu­dents.

Apart from Hillview Col­lege’s 13 schol­ar­ships, St Au­gus­tine Girls’ High School se­cured 11 schol­ar­ships, while Na­pari­ma Col­lege Girls’ High School and Na­pari­ma Col­lege se­cured nine schol­ar­ships each.

Schol­ar­ship List­ing:

Bish­op Anstey & Trin­i­ty Col­lege East (7)

AMELIA AH­WAI - CRE­ATIVE & PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Open

MA­IA AN­TOINE - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Open

JE­RE­MY LOVELL - IN­FOR­MA­TION AND COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

JA­DA HEY­WOOD - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

RAY­AL GRANT - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Ad­di­tion­al

GIO­VANNE AL­VAREZ - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

AIDEN MAYHRAI - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Ad­di­tion­al

Bish­op Anstey High School (2)

NA­JHA JOSEPH - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

DO­MINIQUE BOODOO - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

Fa­ti­ma Col­lege (1)

NEVAN DE COUTEAU - IN­FOR­MA­TION COM­MU­NI­CA­TION & TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

Hillview Col­lege (13)

NISH­KA MA­HARAJ - CRE­ATIVE & PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Open

BRAN­DON MO­HAMMED - CRE­ATIVE & PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Open

SHRA­VAN MA­HARAJ - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Open

LIAM KITS­INGH - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Open

LY­RONNE SEALEY - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Open

JUSTYN SINANAN - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Open

RYK­ER HAR­RICHA­RAN - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Open

SACHIN MARAJ - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

SHREYA RAM­PER­SAD - CRE­ATIVE AND PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

T’SHIYA BOODOO - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

DAR­REN CLARKE - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

LAU­RA BOODOO - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

SAMIR MA­HABIR - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Ad­di­tion­al

Holy Faith Con­vent, Pe­nal (3)

DENELLE MO­HAMMED - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Open

SHERELLE ISH­MAEL - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Open

SAB­RI­NA RAMKU­MAR - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Open

Holy Name Con­vent, Port-of-Spain (4)

RI­ANNE BRAITH­WAITE - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Open

KYLIE SANKAR - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Open

THAIS-MARIE FUR­LONGE-KEL­LY - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

GABRIEL­LA SINGH - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

Lak­sh­mi Girls’ Hin­du Col­lege (3)

RENI­TA BHARATS­INGH - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Open

VE­DA MA­HARAJ - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Open

DANEA DI­AL - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

Na­pari­ma Col­lege (9)

SANDEEP RAM­LOCHAN - CRE­ATIVE AND PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Open

SHIV­AN RAM­JAT­TAN - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Open

ASHVIN RAM­GOOLAM - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Open

MALIQUE AU­GUSTE - TECH­NI­CAL STUD­IES Open

JONATHAN RAM­NARACE - TECH­NI­CAL STUD­IES Open

RACSE RAMOS FA­GUN­DEZ - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

SURAJ GAN­GA - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Ad­di­tion­al

DI­VARO RAM­SAMOOJ - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Ad­di­tion­al

ZA­Y­DEN RAMKISSOON - TECH­NI­CAL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

Na­pari­ma Girls’ High School (9)

DAYA­NARA RAGHU­NANAN - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Open

AL­ISHA RAM­PER­SAD - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Open

ARYANA SOOKDEO - CRE­ATIVE AND PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Open

CHELSEA HO­SEIN - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Open

KELSEY DE GANNES - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Open

VARE­ANN ROOP­NAR­INE - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Open

AALIYAH BI­JARAM - CRE­ATIVE AND PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

AN­JANA PER­SAD - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

AMY MOO­NAN - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Ad­di­tion­al

North East­ern Col­lege (1)

AALIYAH BRAITH­WAITE - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Open

Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, Ch­agua­nas (7)

MATTHEW MOODOO - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Open

SALEEM SAL­ICK - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Open

BHAVESH BAS­DEO - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

AAMIR YATALI - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

MUSA SHAGEER - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

FAZEEL ALI - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Ad­di­tion­al

KURT THOMAS - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Ad­di­tion­al

Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, San Fer­nan­do (6)

NER­AN MA­HADEOSINGH - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Open

AN­DRE RAMKARAN - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Open

TIAN RAM­DATH - CRE­ATIVE AND PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

DANIEL COX - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

AVINASH BAL­ROOP - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

KER­STON PHILIP - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

Scar­bor­ough Sec­ondary School (1)

LALENII GRANT - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

Shi­va Boys’ Hin­du Col­lege (4)

SHIV­ANI SINGH - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Open

FAITH SYL­VAN - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Open

BRADLEY POORAN - CRE­ATIVE AND PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

ALEX­IA RA­JKU­MAR - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

St Au­gus­tine Girls’ High School (10)

VASIRA LAL­LA - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Open

SHI­AYN HAR­RI­NAR­INE - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Open

SAN­JANA ROBIN­SON - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Open

MA­TH­ENA MATHU­RA - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Open

SE­LINE RAME­SAR - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

CA­RESSE RO­DRIGUEZ - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

KEL­LY BOODRAM - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

AA­DI LUTCH­ME­DI­AL - IN­FOR­MA­TION & COM­MU­NI­CA­TION TECH­NOL­O­GY STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

MEA­GAN SMART - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

SHREE­YA GAN­GAS­INGH - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Ad­di­tion­al

St Bene­dict’s Col­lege (1)

JEROME AB­HI­RAM - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

St Fran­cois Girls’ Col­lege (2)

JE­NA CHARLES - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Open

MARIS­SA-ANN WILLIAMS - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

St Joseph’s Con­vent, Port-of-Spain (6)

CLAIRE HUD­SON - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Open

GABRIELLE ED­WARDS - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Open

NICO­LETTE SHAL­LOW - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Open

IS­ABELLE D’ABADIE - MOD­ERN STUD­IES Open

CIA­RA FLETCH­ER - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

BLESS­INGS OGUNEME - NAT­UR­AL SCI­ENCE Ad­di­tion­al

St Joseph’s Con­vent, San Fer­nan­do (2)

ARANA RI­LEY - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

ANUPRIYA PER­SADIE - GEN­ER­AL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

St Joseph’s Con­vent, St Joseph (5)

BRI­AN­NA JA­GAN - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Open

LU­CIA POUCHET - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Open

AL­ISHA LAKHAN - MATH­E­MAT­ICS Open

RENELLE WAL­COTT - EN­VI­RON­MEN­TAL STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

SIMARA SAMUEL - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

St Mary’s Col­lege (1)

DAVID-AN­THO­NY ALEXAN­DER - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

St Stephen’s Col­lege (1)

ARI­ENNE RAM­BER­AN - LAN­GUAGE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

Swa­ha Hin­du Col­lege, San­gre Grande (2)

LAK­SH­MI MA­HARAJ-SOOKRAJ - BUSI­NESS STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al

SURAJ RAM­RAT­TAN - CRE­ATIVE AND PER­FOR­MANCE STUD­IES Ad­di­tion­al