“I did not think it was real. I thought it was a huge mistake....Still overwhelmed. It will take me a few months to realise how big an achievement it is. To me, it just feels like a normal day.”

So said Aaliyah Serrett, 19, of Bishop Anstey High School East and Trinity College East (BATCE), after she was awarded the President’s Medal for outstanding performance in the 2025 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). She said the secret to her success lay in the “excellent standards I set”.

During the January 23 sitting of Parliament, Tertiary Education Minister Prakash Persad announced that Elizabeth Singh, of Naparima Girls’ High School, and Serrett were President’s medallists.