Achsah Wildish and Turks and Caicos Islands Honorable Premier Rufus Ewing

Turks & Caicos Weekly News, Daisy Handfield

A STUDENT from the British West Indies Collegiate (BWIC) was presented with a prestigious award from Cambridge International Examinations after placing top in the world in AS-Level mathematics in the June 2015 Cambridge examinations.

An award ceremony was held at the school in Providenciales on Thursday (January 21) to acknowledge Achsah Wildish on a job more than well done.

The service commenced with the singing of the national anthem, ‘This land of ours’ and then with the opening remarks of vice principal Anthony Wilkinson who commended the young achiever for such an extraordinary accomplishment.

(From left) Turks and Caicos Islands Governor Peter Beckingham, Achsah Wildish, head prefect of BWIC, and vice-principal Anthony Wilkinson.

Wilkinson said that the award recognised talent, dedication and commitment of both learners and staff. He said: “This is an outstanding achievement for Achsah. “Not only did she score 100 percent in a particularly challenging subject, representing our small school in our small island state she has surpassed the performance of students in countries such as India, China, Korea and Singapore who have tended to dominate the field of mathematics.”

Wilkinson said that Achsah was an immensely talented and well balanced young woman. “We at BWIC, and all of us in the TCI, are extremely proud of her success, and the honour and recognition she brings to these shores,” Wilkinson said.

When Premier Rufus Ewing took the podium, he said that that this accomplishment was not an easy one. He said: “This is certainly something that came with hard work from the student herself and it came from hard work from the parents.”To the teachers and the staff of the British West Indies Collegiate, I congratulate you.”

Achsah said that she was overjoyed with the news and surprisingly, only found out during the actual ceremony. She said that one day she hopes to own her own business in financing.

Words of recognition were brought by Wilkinson and founder member of TCI Education Foundation, Dr Euan Menzies. Closing remarks were brought by founder member of the TCI Education Foundation, Carl Simmons.

Cambridge programmes and qualifications are taken by learners in more than 10,000 schools in 170 countries. They are recognised by universities and employers around the world.

Formed and operated by the TCI Education Foundation, a charitable organisation incorporated in 1993, the British West Indies Collegiate is a private international secondary school whose founding ethos is the provision of education of the highest possible quality for the children of Turks and Caicos as well as those who come to reside in the Islands. Government scholarships are available for sixth form study at BWIC to enable students in the TCI access undergraduate university education in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and elsewhere.