St. Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain, is celebrating excellence beyond the classroom.
On Thursday, students were recognised for academic performance, leadership, service and extracurricular achievements for the 2024 to 2025 academic year.
Former Head Girl, Mayah Mohammed, was among those recognised, receiving the Rose Bowl and the Principal’s List Award.
“So, what the Rose Bowl means to me is, I think, it’s testament to what St. Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain, tries to raise in all of its students. Someone who is willing to contribute to their community. Someone who’s willing to help bring other people up and try to foster school spirit and really try to emulate what it means to be an upstanding citizen and someone who wants to see the fruition of their population.”
For Mayah, the ceremony marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, as she prepares to pursue chemical engineering at the University of Toronto.
Another standout awardee, Aaliyah Williamson, walked away with top honours in Modern Languages for the Best Spanish and French Student and Best Overall CAPE Unit Two Student.
“I feel really, really proud. I’m really happy, because this is the fruit of a lot of labour. It’s finally materialised today. And I’m just really grateful, and I’m really grateful to everybody that has supported me in this journey, especially my family. Thank you to my siblings, my parents, my extended family, my uncles, my grannies, and I just think that it’s the effort of everybody combined. So I can’t really take full credit for an achievement like this.”
Aaliyah is currently a teaching assistant at the school during her gap year and plans to pursue international relations at university.
Head of the Awards Committee, Hélène Cécile Honoré, says the ceremony is designed to recognise the diverse talents and values students bring to the school community.
“At our school, you know, we believe that it isn’t just about academics. Of course, we have many students who do well as academics, but we’re also a great school for extracurricular activities. We have a number of students involved in service clubs where they do work with charitable organisations. We have students who are involved in different sporting disciplines, and on Awards Day we recognise all of their achievements.”
Awards were also presented to students who demonstrated generosity, commitment, and service.
Marine biologist and former student, Dr. Diva Ammon, returned to her alma mater as the featured speaker. Drawing from her own journey, she encouraged students to embrace growth even in challenging conditions.
“Down in the depths, there are hundreds of thousands of species that have adapted to these extreme conditions, forming critical ecosystems that support life across the entire planet, which brings me to my first piece of advice today. You don’t need perfect conditions to bloom. You need curiosity to ask questions when you don’t have all the answers. You need courage to try even when you’re unsure. And you need persistence to keep going when things get hard.”
St. Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain, says the annual awards ceremony remains a celebration of character, service and excellence inside and outside the classroom.