For the fifth consecutive year, Presentation College, Chaguanas, has copped the President’s Medal based on the performance of students who wrote the Cape 2014 examination earlier this year. The proud winner this time around is Sandeep Maharajh, 19, of Arena Road, Freeport, who shared the award with Soleil Baldeosingh of St Augustine Girls’ High School (SAGHS). He follows in the footsteps of previous Pres winners Abhinav Karan, Brad Chateergoon, Shastri Ram and Brad Bachu.
Maharajh credited Bachu with making him realise his potential and working hard to achieve his goal. Presentation College also captured six open scholarships and 19 additional. Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh made the announcements at Thursday’s post-Cabinet press briefing. Maharajh, a first year medical student at the University of the West Indies’ Mt Hope campus, said he learned of his success from one of his former biology teachers while on his way home from medical school on Thursday.
He is the last of three children to his parents Kamla and Umanath. His dad is employed with ANSA McAL group company Sissons Paints, where he is a marketing manager, while his mom works as a manager at the Central Colour Shop. He has two older sisters, Hema, a pharmacist and Sheetal, a chemical engineer. “I am overjoyed,” Maharajh told the T&T Guardian of his achievement.
“When my mom and dad came from work we started to cry, we hugged everything and family keeps calling to congratulate. It is amazing, I did not think I could get this medal and I got it.”
Formula for success
Maharajh credited his success to working ten hours a day for three months, in the vacation period and on weekends, and with the help of his teachers from Presentation College. “I really appreciate the extra efforts teachers put into me. They had confidence in me at times when I did not have confidence in myself and that helped me go the extra mile, to put the extra effort.”
He also said all of the prayers his mother said would have allowed him to contribute to the legacy of excellence and medal count at Presentation College, which, overall, numbers 14 to date. Maharajh said he was encouraged to pursue medicine by his parents, who felt it was a safe and honest profession, but also because of his compassion to help the less fortunate.
“I also have a few relatives who are doctors and from their work ethics, I like what I see and I am really encouraged by what I see.”