St. John Resident Earns Highest Territorial GED Score

Alexander “Zan” Cameron is presented with an award for earning the highest GED score in the territory.

When Alexander “Zan” Cameron dropped out of high school with just two classes left in his senior year, his mother made one thing clear — “I told him he had to finish high school,” said Zan Cameron’s mother, Dianne Cameron.

Zan Cameron, who was born on Tortola and raised on St. John, did just that. Not only did he complete his General Education Development (GED) test, he earned the highest score in the territory, and the 75th highest score out of 600,000 students in the U.S., Canada and the Virgin Islands.

Dianne Cameron, a teacher at the Julius E. Sprauve School who knows the value of a high school education, discussed with Zan Cameron how he would finish his education after he dropped out.

“We were discussing whether he was going to do home schooling, or just take his GED,” she said. “He got a job at Angel Electric, and the first thing the owner, Chris Angel, said is that he doesn’t like to hire people without a high school diploma. So, the next week Zan went and applied for his GED.”

Highest Score In V.I.
He quickly finished the course and took the test.

“He did it right away,” said Dianne Cameron. “He studied by himself and took the test, and I heard he got a really high grade but no one told us what it was.”

Nearly a year after completing the GED, 18-year-old Zan Cam-eron discovered at an awards ceremony for receiving the highest GED score in the V.I. that he received a 3,420 out of a possible 4,000 points.

“We were pretty shocked that the score was so high,” said Dianne Cameron. “We had no clue.”

Zan Cameron was accompanied by his mother, Dianne Cameron; his father, wood-worker and musician Andrew Cameron; and girlfriend Tenesha Keyes at the Wednesday, September 27, ceremony at the Adult Education Center on St. Thomas, where he received his diploma, and a wooden plaque and congratulatory letter from the American Council on Education.

Electrical Work In Florida
Receiving the highest GED score in the territory and holding down a job as an electrician for more than a year might be enough for some people, but not for Zan Cameron.

“He was offered a job with The Stop Expert in Florida last spring,” said Dianne Cameron. “They were doing solar stop lights at cross walks at the schools. He built all the circuit boards and helped install them.”

Zan Cameron soon realized there’s no place like home, and returned to St. John and his job at Angel Electric.

“He really missed St. John, so he came back home at the end of August,” said Dianne Cameron.

Zan Cameron, who has been home schooled and attended the former Pine Peace School, Guy Benjamin Elementary, All Saints School and the Coral Bay School, wants to add one more school to his long list — DeVry University.

Online Electrical Courses
“He hopes to further his education by studying electrical engineering and theory,” said Dianne Cameron. “He is trying to get his electrical license, and has been talking about taking some online courses from DeVry for electrical theory.”