GUYANA’S premier secondary school, Queen’s College, on Thursday, kicked off their annual Speech Night Ceremony in the school’s auditorium at 14:00 hours. Speech Night, a highly-anticipated and esteemed event, is a lengthy evening of speeches and reflections. It celebrates students’ achievements within the past year.

The 2020 Speech Night Ceremony, which was pushed back with the ever-looming presence of COVID-19, saw an impressive total of 318 awards given out to students who sat the CSEC and CAPE 2020 examinations, as well as past and present students of the top secondary school, for the period 2019 to 2020.

Conventionally, the attendance at Speech Night ranges somewhere between 600 and 1000 individuals — students, staff and parents or guardians included. However, this year’s Speech Night saw some 300 persons in physical attendance, while the majority of students and parents tuned in to the ceremony via Zoom and Facebook Live.

Some students had been asked to attend a special assembly on Monday to uplift their certificates and prizes, whereupon their photos were taken to be displayed on Thursday as their names were called.

These special measures were put in place in order to facilitate social distancing and ensure compliance with the COVID-19 guidelines.

In delivering her introduction to the Chairwoman of the ceremony, Deputy Principal of Queen’s College, Candaice Cave-Stephen, took time out to note the difficulties encountered by the students who completed their CSEC and CAPE examinations in July/August 2020, having to brave the COVID-19 pandemic and quickly adjust to changes. She likened the sudden loss of normalcy to a thief in the night, “stealing lives, crushing hopes, and cultivating copious fears and uncertainties”.

Despite this, however, she lauded the Queen’s College students for their ability to rise above their challenges and excel, refusing to let the pandemic thwart them from ascending the pedestal of laudable achievements, and wished them well on their endeavours.

“Such actions befittingly echo the words ‘Victory is always possible for the person who has refused to stop toiling’. Today, we proudly acknowledge our awardees, who have proven that they are the ‘crème de la crème’, the best of the best. Today, we salute your performance, and honour you as you have honoured our college. While some dream of success, you have worked for it, and earned it,” she said.

Principal of Queen’s College, Jackie Ralph, described the academic year 2019-2020 as memorable, noting that with the sudden lockdown of schools in March, 2020, teachers were suddenly plunged into a dilemma, as it pertained to ensuring the effective delivery of education.
“With effect from March 16, 2021, members of the academic staff who operated on the Upper School level transitioned immediately to the online platform, and began engaging students virtually.”

She commended staff and students of the school, as well as members of the Queen’s College Alumni, and Parent Teacher Associations for their quick action in combatting the pandemic, highlighting mechanisms like the creation of an e-timetable, to manage and allocate time spent in virtual classrooms; Internet service which was paid for by the Alumni Association; laptops and tablets being provided to vulnerable students, and the purchase of unlimited Zoom on multiple accounts to allow teachers optimum capacity to educate students without interruption.

While Queen’s College did record a 1.6 per cent decline in the pass rate at CSEC, and a one per cent decline at CAPE, all QC students who sat the CSEC examinations matriculated, meaning that they obtained Grades One to Three in at least five subjects, including English A and Mathematics; a standard the school continues to maintain.

Top awards received by students included the Queen’s College Medal, awarded to CAPE students who placed among the top 10 regional performers; the Dr Quacy Grant Prize, for the CSEC student with the best academic record in specified subjects of the Arts Stream; the Ministry of Public Works prize, for the best CSEC performer of the school in Industrial Technology; the Private Sector Commission Prize for the most outstanding business candidate at CSEC; and the Dr Joshua Ramsammy Memorial trophy for the best final year student in Biology, among numerous others.