KC head boy helped 3,000 students prepare for CAPE
Published:Thursday | August 22, 2019 | 12:00 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
As Chad Rattray buckled down to prepare for his final set of external examinations at Kingston College (KC), his focus wasn’t just on how well he would perform.
The outgoing KC head boy, who thought it was necessary to assist students across the island, hosted review seminars for students preparing to sit Caribbean studies in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE)..
“Closer to the CAPE examinations, I would have held three marathons ... . They were on Instagram Live, and one was held at The University of Technology. Overall, approximately 3,000 students were reached through all platforms,” Rattray told The Gleaner.
He said that Caribbean studies was chosen because “it was a subject I found that I could teach because I was teaching students before that”.
The marathons were an expansion of an initiative Rattray started in his lower-sixth-form year when he held after-school sessions with grade 11 students at his school focused on English A and social studies.
Although he attained grade ones in Caribbean studies, management of business and sociology, and a grade two in Caribbean history, he said that the success of the students he helped means more to him.
“On results day, I heard from a lot of those students who would have benefited, and a lot of them got ones and distinctions. Those whose teachers said they would have failed, or so on, they ended up with a [grade] four or a three, which is still better than a failure,” Rattray said.
He said that balancing his own studies and assisting others was not always easy.
“It was highly difficult. I had to be balancing the business of being head boy and trying to be a cut above the rest,” Rattray said.
He added that the support of his principal, family, and church kept him going as he juggled the activities.
“My principal most definitely played a big part. He supported me throughout my years at KC ... . We had a very sharp connection. Teachers and other staff were pretty supportive of me,” he reflected.
The former youth parliamentarian sees his future in government but wants to have a foundation in law.
“I think that law would be more practical in helping me to better understand policies, the Constitution, and other laws of the country,” he said.
The 19-year-old will be pursuing a law degree at The University of the West Indies, Mona, come September.