Ragot leads Dufferin Peel grads

BRAMPTON, Ont. - For Notre Dame Catholic High School student Don Marcial Ragot, moving to Canada from the Philippines came with some hurdles, including adjusting to a new culture and learning a new language.

But it took just two years for Ragot, who was enrolled for a semester in the Brampton school’s English as a Second Language class, to finish with the highest marks at the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board. He ended his high school career with a 98.83-per-cent average.

Ragot, 18, credits the study habits he learned as a child from his mother, Nellie.

Dufferin Peel top scholars Don Marcial Ragot, Notre Dame (Brampton), 98.83% Chloe Chan, St. Francis Xavier (Mississauga), 98.67% Nathaniel Horvath, Cardinal Leger (Brampton), 97.33% Rosanne Lai, St. Joan of Arc (Mississauga), 97.33% Joseph Longo, St. Joseph (Mississauga), 97.13% Min Jeong Kim, Iona, 96.86%

“I make sure I understand all the lessons on that day,” he said.

Ragot and his family came to Canada in August 2008.

At Notre Dame, he was a peer tutor and member of “Link Crew,” where he helped freshman students adjust to high school.

As for his own adjustment, Ragot said it was difficult in the beginning to communicate with his peers because of the language barrier. He remembers being “very nervous” during his first day of school. But with the help of his ESL teacher and the support of classmates in the same situation, he picked up the language and overcame his initial culture shock.

And with Notre Dame being a very multicultural school, it opened his eyes to the richness of other cultures, he said.

He will be attending the University of Toronto in the fall in the engineering science program.