Former Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams top student Yogeeta Persaud, who died suddenly in Peru on Sunday, was expected to be back home by the end of the month, according to her father Thakur Persaud.
Yogeeta, 20, of Golden Fleece, Essequibo Coast and a former student of Anna Regina Multilateral, was adjudged the Caribbean’s most outstanding student in 2013 after securing grade ones in 18 subjects. She was awarded for the Most Outstanding Performance at CSEC 2013.
Thakur Persaud confirmed his daughter’s death on Sunday, while explaining that according to information out of Peru, where she was doing an outreach that was organised by her school, Stony Brook University, she collapsed suddenly and died.
He noted yesterday that he is unsure of what exactly is going on in Peru since communication has been scarce. “I don’t know if I’m going to get the body because I’m not getting a flight to go there and I’m not sure what the issue is,” he said.
Persaud said that he is also unsure of whether a post-mortem examination was done on his daughter’s body as yet.
He noted that she did not have any history of a serious illness and her randomly collapsing has left a lot of unanswered questions for the family.
Yogeeta had been in Peru for more than a week along with other students on the outreach and according to Persaud, his daughter was expected to return home in weeks. She would have celebrated her birthday on August 24th.
“She would’ve been coming home in another week or more. She would’ve finished what she was doing there and then she had to go back to the [United] States and then home. So by the end of the month, she would’ve been home,” the still-distraught father explained.
When Yogeeta eventually completed her studies, she would have served the government in the medical field, which her father said she always had an affinity for while growing up. “She was always interested in the medical field. Since she was growing up and she went to school and did chemistry, she would always say, ‘Daddy, I always wanted to do chem’ and so she did biochemistry and she got a 4.0 GPA [Grade Point Average],” Persaud explained.
He said that Yogeeta was always a quiet girl and kept mostly to herself.
“She always cling to her books and would be by herself most of the time indoors. She was always determined and a fighter. Whenever she has something to get done, she would always push to get it done,” Persaud recalled.
