Bacchus scoops top CSEC awards in spite of fire that destroyed family home

Although his home was gutted by a fire earlier last year, a month before taking his CXC Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, Yannick Bacchus still managed to excel – scooping some of the top awards at the recently held National Awards Ceremony.

Last Wednesday, April 1, at the award {{more}}ceremony — designed to recognize and celebrate scholastic achievements in the May/June 2014 Caribbean Examinations Council CSEC and CPEA examinations — Bacchus walked away with the awards for Commendable Performance After Remediation (with nine subject passes), Top Male Performer (after remediation) and Top Overall Performer (after remediation).

“I lost all my SBAs that I had already started,” recalled Bacchus. “All my book work, I had to [re]start from scratch… This achievement didn’t just come overnight. I worked hard, I had sleepless nights… and at the end of the day, it paid off!”

Speaking with SEARCHLIGHT at the awards ceremony, Bacchus beamed as he spoke of his triumph over the tragedy that could have potentially derailed his educational career.

The teenager, who grew up in Paul’s Avenue with his parents Judy Bacchus and Ashley Huggins and his siblings, said that it was a struggle getting back up to speed with his school work after such a loss, but that his determination saw him through it.

Bacchus said that he also is thankful to his parents and teachers for their unstinting support – and that of his friends, who generously allowed him to use their Internet connections to do research and retrieve whatever information he had lost.

“My friends, half of them don’t go to school, but they pushed me to stay in school and do my work… do them proud, even though they didn’t reach this far.”

Currently, Bacchus is enrolled at the Division of Technical and Vocational Education at the SVG Community College, in his first year of an Associate’s Degree programme in Agricultural Science. He explained that he has had a strong interest in a career in agriculture ever since he started attending the Bishop’s College Kingstown.

“Any field in agriculture will interest me, whether it be… an agronomist, a horticulturalist. Once it’s in agriculture, I’m up for it!”

Bacchus and his family now reside at Stoney Ground, as their family home has not yet been repaired, but he still considers Paul’s Avenue to be his home — seeing himself as someone his younger siblings and youths in the community can be inspired by.

“They look up to me… I feel I am a role model for my community… and I show them that not only bad things come from Paul’s Lot, but good things also!”

Not only succeeding in his academics, Bacchus also plays First Division and Inter-league football with West Kingstown and Central Kingstown, and won the U-17 National Tournament as captain of Avenues United.

For his achievements at the National Awards Ceremony, Bacchus will receive a one-year scholarship, a tablet, a smartphone and a one-year superfast broadband Internet package from telecommunications provider LIME.(JSV)