Dora Watt Cops Top Humanities Regional CAPE Award

For former student of the Montego Bay High School in St. James, Dora Watt, there is much to be proud of, having copped the award for Most Outstanding Performance in Humanities in the 2022 sitting of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

The 19-year-old Christian, who hails from Bethel Town in Westmoreland, made her family and friends proud when she walked on the stage to receive her prestigious award during a ceremony at the Ministry of Education and Youth in Kingston, on February 9.

She was among nine Jamaican students receiving regional awards for excelling in the CAPE and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate [CSEC] examinations.

“I was proud because, while… yes, I did well and was receiving this award, I also realised what it meant for my family and what it meant for my community [and] my school. I was beyond ecstatic coming to terms with what this award meant,” Ms. Watt tells JIS News.

Her CAPE accomplishment includes Grade I in Units 1 and 2 of Law, and Sociology; Grade I in History Unit 1 and Grade II in History Unit 2; and Grade 2 in Units 1 and 2 of English Literature. Ms. Watt also achieved Grade I in Caribbean Studies and Communication Studies.

She credits her success as a regional top performer to her “strong support system” that encompasses her family, friends and teachers; her parents’ sacrifice to give her the best education she could have; and sleepless nights as she stayed up studying, practising and diligently completing all her Internal Assessments (IA).

“So, when exam time came around… I just went into the exams, prayed about it, put my best foot forward and completed them. When the results came out [I] was [initially] disappointed because, to me, they were not reflecting what I thought I put in. But then when my teachers spoke to me, they [said] ‘do you know you did extremely well?’,” Ms. Watt explains.

“Having reflected on the struggles that I went through throughout the year, I realised that the results were truly exceptional. It’s afterwards that I found out that I was getting this award,” she adds.

In Grade 12, the young lady ended up on the CXC’s Merits List for the Region following her CAPE results, and again made the list in Grade 13. However, unbeknownst to her, she was also the Caribbean’s top CAPE Humanities candidate.

Ms. Watt, who is the second of five siblings, also holds several CSEC subjects. These include Grade II in Mathematics, Spanish and Geography; and Grade I for English Language, Clothing and Textiles, Information Technology, Social Studies, History, Human and Social Biology.

“I kept telling myself [that] I cannot allow my parents’ sacrifices to go to waste, and the sacrifices of those who invested in me. So on the day [I was awarded] I was extremely glad that they were in a position where they could be proud of the accomplishments of their daughter. I said, ‘Mommy and Daddy, savour this moment’,” she shares.

“[Also], thanks to my extended family, as… they have been [my] special support. My friends who had so much faith in me… I’m eternally grateful for them and for everyone in my community. The friends of my family who helped me to get to this point, who really were saying that ‘you are capable of so much more than you think’, I want to thank them. This is a feat that I do not think I would be able to accomplish on my own,” she adds.

Having taken a year off school to serve as an intern at the Montego Bay Restorative Justice Centre through HEART/NSTA Trust, Ms. Watt now has her sights set on resuming her education at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus in St. Andrew, where she’ll pursue a law degree.

She is steadily planning for her enrolment and is even using her job at the restorative justice centre to prepare.

Ms. Watt encourages other youth across the island to “take responsibility” for their learning and get into the habit of reading, citing these qualities among the keys to her academic success.

“Extensive reading always pays off. It never hurts anyone. Reading just helps you in every subject area. It doesn’t matter if it’s the humanities or you’re doing the sciences or business. If you read, you’ll find that you are a superior candidate than many of the other students who would opt not to read as much as you did,” she points out.