Vincentian scholar, Gerard Porter never expected to attend ivy league school, Harvard University, much less to graduate from the institution years later Summa Cum Laude.

In 2018, Gerard Porter was St Vincent and the Grenadines’ top performer for CAPE. That year, he also recorded the highest mark for CAPE Pure Mathematics Unit II, in the entire region.

“It still feels very surreal to me. I am amazed by the numerous well-wishers from across SVG and the Caribbean in general, and I feel humbled that I have represented our nation well,” the Harvard graduate told SEARCHLIGHT this week in an exclusive interview.

Porter has always distinguished himself academically, and is known for being among this country’s top CSEC performers in 2016, having attained 12 Grade one passes. He also placed 7th for boys and 10th overall in the Common Entrance Examinations in 2011.

He was also the 2018 recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for his outstanding performance at that year’s CAPE sitting, after which he went on to pursue a Bachelors degree in Chemistry at Harvard where he graduated Summa Cum Laude, which means “with the highest distinction”.

It is the greatest of the three commonly used types of academic honours used in the United States (US).

In fact, the son of Gilbert and Samantha Porter was awarded the Sophia Freund Prize, a prize which recognises the highest-ranking seniors, shortly before his graduation this year.

This is but one of several academic prizes he received while attending the ivy league university.

In his Sophomore year, Porter was awarded the Detur Book Prize, one of the oldest prizes at Harvard College which recognises sophomores who attained very high academic standing in their first year at the institution.

He was one of 24 students to be inducted into the Harvard College’s chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Academic Honors Society, which recognises coursework that demonstrates “excellence, reach, originality and rigour”.

The Vincentian was also designated a John Harvard Scholar — an, award given to the top five per cent of each class based on their GPA from the previous year — during his sophomore, junior and senior years.

Though Porter told SEARCHLIGHT that the greatest highlight of the Harvard experience was his graduation “especially because at one point it seemed unlikely to be held in person. It was amazing being able to celebrate the culmination of my four years at Harvard with friends and family”.

He noted that the other high points of his Harvard experience were related to fun off-campus activities that the school facilitates for its students, which included whale watching, horseback riding, ice skating, and snow tubing.

He was also able to attend live performances including musicals at the Boston Opera House.

Having to spend 15-20 hours a week conducting undergraduate research allowed Porter to become extremely proficient at managing his time so that he could complete assignments, spend time with friends and participate in other extra-curricular activities during the little time he had left outside of lectures and labs.

“I maintained a schedule of assignments, exams, and events to prepare for particularly busy weeks during the semester. Though this was difficult at first, I quickly got into a rhythm and maintained it during my time at Harvard,” he said.

The Harvard graduate explained that his primary extra-curricular activity was also undergraduate research, where he worked for the summer after his freshman year in the Betley Lab at Harvard’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department.

He worked there until his graduation this year and assisted with developing new catalysts to increase the speed of important chemical reactions and co-authored peer-reviewed articles published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Porter also interned at major pharmaceutical companies, Merck & Co and Bristol Myers Squibb respectively, during the summers after his sophomore and junior years.

The scholar additionally served as a course assistant for Introductory Organic Chemistry for two semesters.

In addition to those extra-curricular activities related to academics, Porter also made time to be an Assistant Bible Course leader for a Christian group on campus from his sophomore to senior year, and treasurer of the Harvard Cycling Club during his sophomore and junior years.

If he were to advise persons on how to manage their time and remain focused, Porter would “strongly recommend maintaining a schedule and looking ahead to identify very hectic weeks”.

“Doing this would allow persons to lessen their workload by completing some assignments early during less busy weeks. I would also recommend using downtime during the day wisely as a lot of simple but required tasks, like replying to emails, could be done during the short breaks that we randomly have during the day which would create more time for demanding tasks. As for remaining focused, I think designating definite times to complete work during the day and restricting social media access during those times would help to eliminate distractions,” he said.

Like most students across the globe, Porter’s studies were affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He told SEARCHLIGHT that Harvard was one of the first universities in the US to completely switch to virtual instruction in March 2020.

“As a result, I completed the latter half of the spring semester of my sophomore year and the fall semester of my junior year at home in St Vincent. This made completing coursework and exams more difficult due to poor wifi connectivity and regular power outages. However, through the support of my family and professors, I maintained my academic excellence even though I did not have access to the world-class resources that I had become accustomed to,” he said.

Porter will start his PhD programme in Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall — a programme that is expected to last the next five to six years.

The young scholar is still undecided about a specific career path he’d like to pursue after completing his PhD but said the overall aim is to find a job “that allows me to meaningfully impact lives while engaging cutting-edge scientific research”.