GUYANA’S premier secondary school, Queen’s College, on Friday, celebrated being named the 2021 School of the Year by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), when it held its annual Market Day activity.

During the fundraising event, students, teachers, staff and alumni of Queen’s College donned the clothing of Guyana’s six ethnic groups. Booths, which were set up on the lawns of the school, had traditional foods, drinks and fashion items on sale. There was also a games section.

A programme which showcased the talent of students, some of whom modeled the elegant designs of renowned Guyanese designer, Randy Madray, who himself is a QC alumus, marked the opening of the Market Day.

“We decided this year to have a grand celebration because of the challenges we would have faced and how we would have overcome those challenges to come out victorious,” the school’s principal, Candaice Cave said.

Students were able to perform well regionally notwithstanding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which had caused school closures across Guyana and affected education delivery.

This is the second consecutive year that Queen’s College has received the School of the Year title after students copped the Most Outstanding CSEC Student and Most Outstanding CAPE Student, in addition to several other student awards.

Guyana walked away with nine student prizes from the Regional Award Ceremony, five of which were won by QC students. Samuel Haynes was the most outstanding student at CAPE while Zaynab Shaffie took the top stop for the CSEC examination.

Additionally, for CSEC, Roshni Samaroo, Sarena Razak and Riley Nurse won the Most Outstanding Performance in Humanities, Most Outstanding Performance in Technical Vocational Education and ACCA CSEC Accounting Awards, respectively.

Cave, who has been managing the school as the head teacher for just over a year now, said she is looking forward to maintaining QC’s reputation as a premier institution not just nationally but across the Caribbean.

She noted how honoured she was that the school was able to maintain its standing as School of the Year in her first year as principal. She said she feels the weight of the need to continue the trend.

“I’m excited, I’m elated and I am a bit pressured because I know this is something I would have to maintain moving forward. I am pressured but I am excited and looking forward to it. I’ve been here for a while, over 11 years, and have been the Deputy [Head teacher] so it’s something that we are accustomed to,” she shared.

Cave noted that while QC is revered for its standing academically, the celebratory activity was also about having a chance to showcase the talent of the students and show that QC has students who are also creative.

Among those present were the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, who is a QC alumna; and Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson. Throughout the day, students from several secondary schools in the city were seen visiting booths.

Meanwhile, several students who spoke to the Guyana Chronicle expressed their joy at being able to be out physically, and being able to meet up and interact with their friends.

“It’s been very fun, it’s refreshing, since we have to do online classes for the whole of Form One. And it means we’ll also get a break from the school work,” commented 13-year-old Maraya Cooke, a Grade Eight student.

Cooke, along with her classmate Syesha Yahya, were dressed in matching Chinese outfits for the occasion. This was their first time at a QC Market Day event as this is the first time in two years that the event was being held.

Grade 10 student Ciara Edghill noted that she enjoyed the cultural aspects of the event and was happy with the turn out.

“I really like the integration of the different cultures…I didn’t think we would have such a big turnout actually,” she added.