Grammar School boy tops with 12 Grade ones

This country’s top performer in the Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) CSEC examination has attributed his success to prayer and dedicated study.{{more}}

Israel Carr, 16, received 12 Grade I’s, including 11 distinctions for the 12 subjects he sat for the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSEC) examinations.

“I am really elated. I’m really happy. I really wasn’t expecting such good results. But after all, I’m really thankful to God for all He has done for me,” Carr told SEARCHLIGHT.

SEARCHLIGHT spoke to Carr at the St. Vincent Grammar School shortly after he collected his results last Friday.

Two of his former teachers beamed as they read his results slip and commended the youth on his performance.

They told SEARCHLIGHT that they were not surprised by Carr’s performance.

“He has always been a very diligent, meticulous, and hardworking student…. He is a very excellent example for the entire school and the entire nation,” French teacher Abigail Providence told SEARCHLIGHT.

Providence taught Carr French from Forms 1 to 3, after which he opted to study Spanish with the school and French at the Alliance Française.

“Israel is an example of dedication, consistency, and discipline,” said Morthley Robertson, another teacher at the school who taught Carr Principles of Business privately.

Carr received distinctions in Biology, Chemistry, English A, English B, French, Information Technology, Mathematics, Physics, Principles of Business, Social Studies, and Spanish.

This means that he received an “A” grade for all the competencies tested in those subjects.

The Dumbarton resident also received a Grade 1 for geography, although the “B” he received for one of the papers denied him a distinction in that discipline.

“I was expecting to get a few distinctions for some subjects that I know I did well in, such as French, Spanish, and probably Social Studies,” said Carr, who placed 3rd for boys and 8th overall in the 2005 Common Entrance Examinations.

“But it’s like after every exam, I wasn’t sure if I would get a distinction or a Grade I or what,” Carr added.

He said that after every exam he felt as if he had not done as well as he had expected to.

Carr’s mother, Juliet Carr, told SEARCHLIGHT on Monday that she felt “very, very good about his performance.”

“It was something that I was expecting because of his brilliance. I knew he would have done well, so I am not too surprised,” she said.

Juliet, a self-employed single parent, told SEARCHLIGHT that she had to “struggle” to raise Israel, his brother and sister after their father died when Israel was 20 months old.

She described Israel as “very dedicated” to his academic and religious books.

“You do not test him with those sorts of things – no one!” she said.

Juliet said that her son is a missionary preacher who has preached in several countries, including England, Jamaica, Antigua, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago.

Young Carr, a Seventh-Day Adventist, told SEARCHLIGHT he is still thinking about what he wants to do in the future, but his mother sees him becoming a doctor.

“He has the potential,” she said.

He plans to study Biology, Chemistry, and Spanish at the Community College this coming school year.

“I’m thinking about becoming a doctor, but I am trying to look at various careers and see which one I will pursue,” Carr told SEARCHLIGHT. (KXC)