Cecil Cox, the Queen’s College student who became the first Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) regional top awardee to win a regional top award at Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) was honoured yesterday.It happened at the annual governance meetings of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) in Belize.

Belize is the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) only participating country in Central America.

The CXC governance meetings are held annually in one of the CXC participating countries. Belize last hosted a CXC governance meeting in 1993.

The council meeting opened with a formal ceremony at the Best Western Hotel, Belize City.

During the opening ceremony, nine CAPE awardees and eight CSEC awardees from Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were presented with the regional top awards.

Belize’s Minister of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture Patrick Faber delivered
the feature address at the ceremony, which was also addressed by CXC Chairman,
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and CXC Registrar Mr Glenroy Cumberbatch.

Brandon Judnarine, the Most Outstanding Candidate Overall in the May/June CSEC examinations spoke on behalf of the awardees.

Cox, who won the regional top award for outstanding performance in science at CSEC in 2013, was awarded the winner of the 2015 Dennis Irvine Award, the symbol of academic excellence at CAPE.

He achieved Grade I in 13 CAPE Units: Applied Mathematics Units 1 and 2, Caribbean Studies, Chemistry Units 1 and 2, Communication Studies, Computer Science Unit 1, Digital Media Units 1 and 2, Physics Units 1 and 2 and Pure Mathematics Unit 1 and 2, and Grade II in Computer Science Unit 2.

The awardees paid a courtesy calls on Sir Colville Young, Governor-General of Belize; Dean Barrow, Prime Minister; Mr Faber; and Leader of the Opposition Francis Fonseca.

The awardees also visited historical sites in Belize, including Xunantunich Maya Archaeological Site, and Old Belize Museum; and interacted with students from schools in Belize.

These activities gave the awardees an opportunity to interact with students from the host country and gain a better understanding of Belizean history and culture.

One of the objectives of the regional top awards programme is to promote regional integration and build life-long relationships among the awardees and students in the host country.