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Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
"28 students topped the exam this year nationwide, and so all of them are here today, all of them received their awards. For those top performers, I think they received a full scholarship and a book grant. That's something that we changed some years ago and of course the 3 top performers received computers and I think the top one also received a printer. And of course the Nembhard scholarship award."

Madyson Burrowes, Top Achiever
"I feel very proud of myself because I didn't expect to rank this position, I was just planning on passing with a good grade, but hard work pays off so...."

Courtney Weatherburne
"As a parent, and I'm sure that you are overwhelmed with joy seeing your daughter getting her award and accomplishing this at this stage in her life. Tell us about your role in terms of her preparing for the PSE and reaching this point."

Martha Burrowes, Mother
"We always support our daughter in whatever academics and spiritual and so we say 'just focus, education is important, it's a key'. I have always been a working mother and so I encourage my child to work and find a career path that they could excel in. Of course they need that foundation in education you have it all."

Morgan Mahler, Top Achiever
"I am very proud of myself, I didn't expect to do this well, I just hoped I did pretty well and yes I'm happy with what I got."

Melissa Balderamos Mahler, Mother
"Well from a very early age, I recognized that she's always been a very bright child. Very industrious, very focused, so I just really pushed her from very young. I know sometimes I may have pushed her a little bit too hard but I recognized her potential from very early. So I just pushed her, encouraged her, both her dad and I, we really helped her in terms of studying. She did extra classes with Miss Wade but she's always been very studious, so we didn't really have that much to do."

Gerhaldine Hidalgo, Mother of Allyson Hidalgo
"Honestly, I think I have to thank the teachers more than my role. I think it's a great school that we have with Miss Jay and the leadership and Miss Bowden and also Miss Wade, her former teachers who played a big role in her education."

Olajwan Cadle, Ranked 21st, PSE
"it's very emotional, I feel thankful for everyone who has helped me through this journey and whose helped push and made all of this effort just to come in the way that I am. And I am thankful for everything that has happened to me right now."

Sahil Hotchandani, 3rd Place from BES
"This experience was a unique experience for me because sometimes I fall so down and the piles of homework, I felt like I couldn't take it. My parents were just there and my grandma especially kept on saying 'never give up' and you keep on pushing. And It paid off, and so in life ill just remember to never give up because if you keep on pushing, the hard work does pay off. It paid off today."

While these students seem to have the road ahead clearly mapped out, what about those who failed the PSE or simply scraped by? Well according to Minister Faber, no one gets left behind.

Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
"The idea again is to get all the schools and their communities on board to help to fix the problem. Now the specific question as to 'what about those who aren't doing well?' my message this morning was also geared towards those students and the people how support them to not give up on them. Not passing the PSE does not spell not going to high school. And it's a famous question of your boss, Jules Vasquez. 'Minister, graduation, PSE, 7000 students, do we have a space for all of them?' And my response always has been, you can check with him, "yes we do." Because while we might not have a space for your child at the school that you want your child to go to, there is a space in our education system for that child. There are many of our institutions that are under subscribed simply because we are a bit misguided in terms 0f what it is our focus should be. Some people prefer not to send their children to school at all, as opposed to sending them to a school that you want your child to go to. I think we need a bit of education, we need to make sure we are certain of what our priorities are, as it relates to this in the wider community. And then get everybody on board, but there is a place for all of these young people whether or not they pass the PSE and we have seen many tremendous, successful stories of many people who didn't do well on the PSE becoming productive Belizeans. And so let us not try to write them off and let us try to give them that support as well."

"I don't think that the criticism is so much that the exam isn't an accurate measure of our childrens' performance. I think that while you have some schools that may teach to the test, they may prepare them merely based on what has come in previous years and so on. By and large, the results on that test indicate where we are. That's a reality. Our children are not doing well in math, or doing well enough in English or even in science. And so to deal with those issues, we are putting in place measures."

And while excellence was celebrated today, of the total 7223 students who sat the exam - the average grade was still 58% out of a hundred, meaning an E or a failing grade - meaning that 15 years in, the PSE continues to fail students - which, is another story for another time.