Professional Secretarial Institute making its mark

To some it may appear to be insignificant, but the contribution being made by the Professional Secretarial Institute to the education revolution should not be ignored.

The institute, which not only imparts secretarial skills to its students, but also teaches academics and personal development skills turned out some commendable results in this year’s CXC CSEC examinations.{{more}}

The school reported an eighty per cent pass rate, among the nine students who sat the examinations.

The students each wrote a maximum of five subjects, including Principles of Accounts, Principles of Business, Office Administration and English A.

The most outstanding student in the small bunch is Onika Ashton, who passed four subjects, all grade twos.

Ashton, along with a few second year classmates and Managing Director of the Institute, Camille Crichton, visited Searchlight’s offices on Wednesday to express their happiness at the results.

The group, which included Shanda Phillips, Nedia Neverson, Kellyann Laborde, Chermicia Williams and Shern Nickie, said that they were happy with the results, although they felt that there were subjects they felt that they could have done better in.

They expressed gratitude at having been given an opportunity at the exams through the institute, and all had plans to further their education.

Crichton said that she too was happy with the results, and also felt that better could have been done if the students had applied themselves more.

In terms of the Institute, Crichton said that it has been contributing to universal secondary education since its inception in 1992, by offering a second chance to persons who were not in the secondary school system.

She said that over the years, the Institute has been meeting a number of challenges, but continues to strive on because of the reward of seeing persons become successful at the examinations and in their personal and professional lives.

The Institute, located upstairs the Coreas Building, has a staff of three, and a first and second year class which seats about 15 students each.

The classes are also open to males, although over the years only a few have taken the opportunity to further their studies there.

Crichton encouraged the students to put more effort into their work as they proceed, and hopes that the accomplishments of the 2006 students will encourage the next batch of second year students. (JJ)