REWARD--St. Dominic High School on Monday announced the achievements of its students in the May 2024 International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma examination session. This year, 24 candidates registered, including 22 diploma and two course candidates, with 185 subject entries this session.
Seventeen candidates successfully completed all requirements to be awarded the IB Diploma after two years in the programme. The average points obtained by St. Dominic High candidates who passed the diploma was 31. This year the school’s Diploma awardees’ performance surpassed the global average DP score for the May 2024 session, which is 30.32 points.
Seven candidates from this examination cohort emerged as the high scorers.
Saheli Kirpalani was the top-performing candidate who sat seven subjects and achieved the highest points in this session with 38. This included being awarded a perfect grade 7 in each of the following subjects: Spanish B SL, Business Management HL and Chemistry HL.
Aarti Gianchandani garnered 36 points with grade 7 in two subjects: Business Management HL and Mathematics Analysis and Approaches SL.
Closely following were two candidates with 35 points: Siddharth Shroff who had a perfect grade 7 in Chemistry HL and Priya Kandathil Parambil.
Diya Chatani had 34 points including a grade 7 in Business Management SL; Diya Agnani scored 34 points while carrying a load of 7 subjects.
The school said total scores are calculated based on 6 subjects and any bonus points achieved Candidates achieving a grade 7 demonstrate consistent and thorough understanding of the required knowledge, concepts and skills and the ability to apply them almost faultlessly in a wide variety of situations. “They consistently demonstrate originality, insight, and analytical thinking in work of high quality in the subject.”
Special mention is being given to Jessica Su who received three bonus points (the highest a candidate can receive) for her performance in Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay. Notably, she was the school’s first Dutch B HL candidate, and she received an A for her extended essay written in Dutch entitled: De invloed van de Nederlandse Trans-Atlantische driehoekshandel op Sint Maarten: In hoeverre heeft de Nederlandse Trans-Atlantische driehoekshandel invloed op de huidige Straatnamen in Sint Maarten, en reageren de inwoners van Sint Maarten op deze straatnamen?
St. Dominic High School is also pleased to highlight two candidates who, in their extended essays, exhibited effective research skills, excellent knowledge and understanding of the chosen topic in the wider context of their specific subjects. These two students, Priya Kandathil Parambil and Bhavesh Lalwani, both attained a grade A for their respective research topics.
Priya wrote her Biology research paper on, The Damaging Effects of Varying Concentrations of Copper Sulphate on The Growth of Plants: How do varying concentrations of pollution by copper sulphate affect the growth of Zea Mays (corn) measured by dry mass and plant height over a period of 8 weeks?
Bhavesh’s Extended Essay research in the subject Environmental Systems and Societies Investigated: The Impact of Population Growth on Air Pollution in Mumbai, India: To what extent has the increase of population impacted air pollution in Mumbai, India, over the last 10 years (2013-2022)?
“This year St. Dominic High School outperformed the world average in six subjects, indicating strong academic achievement relative to our global peers sitting the May 2024 DP exams. Our students excelled in several subjects, achieving higher-than-average scores exceeding the world average in: Biology HL (Highest grade: 7, School average: 5.11, World average: 4.42); Business Management HL (Highest grade 7, School average: 5.56, World Average: 4.92); Business Management SL (Highest grade 7, School average:5.00, World average 4.90); Computer Science HL (Highest grade: 6, School average: 5.00, World average: 4.53); Computer Science SL (Highest grade:6, School average: 6.00, World average: 4.15) and Spanish B SL (Highest grade: 7, School average: 5.17, World average: 4.92).
The school said, “These results reflect our commitment to providing high-quality education and preparing students for academic excellence.”
Diploma Programme Coordinator Marie T. Richardson said: “We, must acknowledge the perseverance of our students, fueled by the support of their parents and the commitment of their teachers over the past two years. As we enter our 15th year of offering the IB Diploma Programme and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the school, our strong partnership with our stakeholders and the wider community of St. Maarten enables us to continue leading, learning and building our legacy of academic excellence.”
St. Dominic High was the first government-subsidized school in the Caribbean to be authorised to offer the IB Diploma Programme. The Diploma Programme is a rigorous and academically challenging pre-university curriculum where students select and study six subjects from six groups – literature, foreign language, individuals and societies, experimental sciences, mathematics and arts.
To qualify for the diploma, students must complete the following core requirements: a 4,000-word Extended Essay (EE), the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course which examines how knowledge is acquired and the various kinds of knowledge that exist, Creativity, Activity Service (CAS) requiring students to engage in the arts, sports and the community.
The Diploma Programme was designed to not only address each student’s academic needs, but also to target the students’ social, emotional and physical well-being to give them the skills to be successful contributive citizens and members of the global community.
General information about the International Baccalaureate Organization and its programmes is available at
www.ibo.org
