Yesterday we told you about the results of this year's Primary School Examination. Overall, the students didn't do great, with almost half failing in math and almost as many failing science.  But as usual, there were still thousands of students who did well. Yesterday, we spoke to many of the top scorers, most of whom are from schools here in Belize City.  But the commercial capital wasn't the only municipality to excel. Two of the top 5 candidates came from Toledo's Punta Gorda Methodist and St. Peter Claver RC. Today, our news team was in PG and spoke to those students along with their parents and teachers, about representing down South...

Reporter
“Talk to us about how you reacted when you got this news.â€￾

Devyne Lopez - 3rd Place, Punta Gorda Methodist
“I was a bit disappointed at first because I thought I could have done better but I still got the grade that I worked for.â€￾

Reporter
“3rd overall, this is a major accomplishment especially when you look at the number of students who didn’t do that well and this is overall in the country. Now that you’ve thought about it how are you feeling now?â€￾

Devyne Lopez
“I am a bit excited now because I got 3rd out of 7 thousand students, yes ma’am.â€￾

Reporter
“Talk to us a little bit about how you prepared for the PSE, I imagine it took a lot of work on your part on your teacher’s part on your parents as well.â€￾

Devyne Lopez
“I had to go to Saturday classes, morning and evening classes but when I go home in the evening I have to do my chores first then I get my homework afterwards.â€￾

Alex Courtenay
“Your daughter just placed 3rd place in the entire country in the PSE, tell us about your initial reaction to finding out the news that she did so well.â€￾

Therese Lopez - Mother of Devyne Lopez
“I was very excited; I think I was even more excited than her. I heard the news, I was in my bedroom so I ran outside, I was not even dressed properly and I said Devyne you did excellent and she said why are you so excited? I said well you got first highest in Toledo, I said that’s excellent and you got but it was not confirmed as yet, I heard that the 3rd highest in the entire country which is sitting an exam and getting 3rd place with so many students over 7 thousand students so of course I was very excited as her mom.â€￾

Winston Lopez - Father of Devyne Lopez
“I always ensure that I’m there for then 24/7 right, giving them what they need, the support, physically and mentally and giving them the environment they deserve. Most fathers they do not have the chance or they do not want to do that, they want to be here there and everywhere but I try my best to be there for my kids 24/7. I take her fishing, on trips, hunting, sometimes her mom gets mad with me when I come back late from fishing but that’s a part of our life. We go to games, I take them to different social events and so on so they know what the world is all about alright and I always keep in mind positive discipline is very important in the home, if you do not have that then for sure the kids might fall astray which is very much important and I glad that and I’m overexcited and much more excited than the mom.â€￾

Reporter
“What does this achievement mean for you and the student population here?â€￾

Florence Ramclam - Principal, Punta Gorda Methodist
“It means a whole lot, it means greatness for our school, it means history for our school, it means history for our district. It has been something that we have anticipated for quite a long time, we have always been in the top 10 for our district but we have always kept our eyes on the prize for us to reach the top 25. We saw Devyne as one of those potential students from standard 4 so we knew that we would have made it to the top 25 but definitely I did not think on the top 5 and we are grateful to her.â€￾

Reporter
“Why do you think this means for your school and your friends who attend this school?â€￾

Leeanee Palma - 4th Place, St. Peter Claver RC
“Right now it’s a very big deal because I am the first from my school to ever make it on the top 5 and to all my friends, for them its inspiration and they’ve been motivating me from standard 4 to now about PSE so it’s something amazing for them.â€￾

Reporter
“Did you set out with a goal to say I’m going to aim for the top 5?â€￾

Leeanee Palma
“No I did not, my aim was the top 25 but with the help of god and the help of my family members and the teachers it became possible.â€￾

Reporter
“Did you study a lot or did you mix it up with some fun in there, enjoy being in primary school and still have fun?â€￾

Leeanee Palma
“I did, I did not put all my time into studying, I mixed it up very much.â€￾

Lilietza Telles - Mother of Leeanne Palma
“Well I always whenever I come from work I always stay back and help her with her homework, always inspire her, motivate her to do her work to her best. Also help her with language arts, science, social studies and then she had her dad help her with math so she could get more practice for the PSE.â€￾

Telesforo Paquiul - Principal, St. Peter Claver RC
“You know when we got the news yesterday it was like unbelievable. We were really not expecting it however one of the things that we have been targeting from last year was to be in the top 25 for the country and last it didn’t really materialize but we are proud that this year we went above expectation.â€￾

Students from Corozal, Orange Walk and Cayo also made the Top 25.