Statement Made by Mr. Stephen Kangal at the Function held to Honour The Forty-One National Scholarship Winners of Hillview College on Wednesday 15 October 2014 at Hillview College, Tunapuna

Mr. Principal Mr Leslie Mahase Chaplain of the College, Rev. Adrian Seunarine, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Senator the Honourable Kevin Ramnarine, The Honourable Rudranath Indarsingh MP, Minister in the Ministry of Finance and the Economy, Mr. Ranjit Boodhoo, Chairman of the Administrative Committee of Hillview Colllege, Mr.Shivan Ramroop, Hillview PTA Rep., Mr Fareed Ali, Secretary of HOBA, Members of Straff of Hillview College, National Scholarship Awardees, Parents, Students, other guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good morning and greetings on behalf of the inaugural Class of 1955. Our cup is full and it runneth over.

If I am asked to describe this radically –reforming and ground-breaking event I will use three words to encapsulate my intellect and emotions.

ICONIC! TECTONIC! and SEISMIC!

We wish to congratulate this CAPE Class o 2014 on their stellar performance at the recent Examinations. We express our gratitude and deep appreciation for this beautiful 60th Diamond Jubilee Birthday gift to us the community of Hillview. Thank You Mr. Principal and Staff, Thank You Scholarship winners and your parents for the timing of the event- just as we are about to turn 60. We are savouring this diamond moment. Thank You for the bliss and happiness that you have brought us the first students of Hillview College who braved the way and prepared it for you to blossom, flourish and excel beyond our wildest dreams and let the name Hillview ring from shore to shore.

You honourees have caused and re-kindled a wave of much happiness and a pride within the Hillview Community. You have strengthened our loyalty, umbilical chord and devotion to Hillview College. You are the catalyst for this change in our fortunes and in our mind-set.

This is a big historical event long in coming but coming at the most appropriate and auspicious moment. I can feel the hand of God in this coincidence with the eve of the Diamond Jubilee of this great institution. It has far-reaching consequwnces for the image and reputation of this College. Its impact is being manifested and felt beyond the walls and campus of the College. Such is the quality of the stellar achievement of you the forty-one National Scholarship winners present with us today. You are now icons and role models for the other students to emulate and even surpass in the coming years.

I regard this year’s results at CAPE to be a seismic event with the epi-centre located at Hillview College anf going down deep into the very foundations laid over the years at this College. Today is the culmination of this journey so far. We have had CAPE tectonics. The Tunapuna plate has emerged above other neighbouring educational plates and shifted the paradign in favour of the East. The sesimiv vibrations and the release of energy radiating in concentric circles agffecting several areas.

The first circle of impact is you the graduates, the students, their parents and the Hillview Community. It has been a most transforming and euphoric experience because it is radically refroming the educational landscape beyond our wildest expectations. The Old Bosy Association and the PTA are within this immediate impact zone.

The second zone of impact is the host community of Tunapuna that has nurtured and fed Hillview since 1955. Tunapuna is sharing in your glory and high performance. The pupils from these Tunapuna-Piarco Regional Corporation schools are now totally focused on Hillview as their first choice in the SEA Examinations.

The next circle to come under the energy field originating and radiating from Hillview is the Presbyterian Church that gained more than 33% of the 347 scholarships awarded. Hillview is now its flag-ship institution with its sister-school-SAGHS together with Iere, Naparima Girls and Boys.

The National Scholars with Ministers Kevin Ramnarine and Rudrnath Indarsingh-former Graduates of Hillview

These scholarship tremors have been felt at the national level with the locus of national attention shifting to the college at the base of the hill. The Minster of Education has been high in high in his ranking and adulation of the Hillview performance factor.

Thank You the 41 National Scholars for creating an atmosphere of excitement and optimism and of strong momentum and push for our Diamond Jubilee to be celebrated next year.

You have been the product of leadership, relationship, fellowship and worship, scholarship, teacher-ship, principal-ship, friendships, penmanship motivated by the ship of ambition and educational excellence.

You have set high standards. The challenge for the next classes is to maintain and even surpass these standards. Forty-One in Sixty is the way to celebrate. Thank you all for this 60th Birthday gift.

Magnum est Hillview et prevalabit! Great is Hillview and it will prevail!

Ronaldo Ram – Scholarship winner who beat cancer to win an Additional Scholarship is pictured with his mother Sherry-Ann Ram