John Gray High School awards its Year 11 students

John Gray High School held its annual award ceremony for Year 11 students on Monday, 30 April at the Red Bay Holiness Church. 

More than 200 awards were given to those students who excelled in academics, gave excellent effort or improved and excelled in sports. 

Each received awards in single subjects, two subjects or three subjects. The awards represented their specific strengths in the subject areas. 

Other awards for excellence throughout the years spent at John Gray were also handed out, with one such award going to Chrishanna Towers, who read 76 books throughout the school year. 

An important announcement was made at the ceremony where by this year’s students could be the first to celebrate a standard of excellence not only for the Cayman Islands, but throughout the Caribbean. It has been predicted, based on the last semester’s report cards that more than 42 per cent of the year 11 class is scheduled to receive five or more external examination passes. 

John Gray Principal Lyneth Monteith commended the students on the successful way that they balanced school demands, exam preparation and extra-curricular activities. Along with her congratulations to the students, she provided them with some words of advice, quoting Mahatma Gandhi. 

“The future depends on what you do today. You are going to sit your exams, which will open up certain pathways for you. These may be pathways which will allow you to continue to progress or pathways, which require you to revisit what you have already done in order to progress.” 

Education Minister Rolston Anglin and Chief Officer Mary Rodrigues attended and congratulated each of the students who received rewards. 

The minister said, “The next weeks are crucially important for you and your academic career. You have an opportunity to go down in history for our Islands. I would like each of you to go to these exams and exceed your expectations. Set a mark so that every years after you will have a milestone to reach or exceed.” 

He added the students should, “… support each other to succeed. This is really only the beginning for you all and I believe each and ever one of you can set the standard for public schools in the Cayman Islands.”