Why CXC Math Is the Gate — And How Rising Tide Is Helping Sint Maarten Students Walk Through It

In the Caribbean, there is one exam that quietly shapes more futures than almost anything else: CXC Mathematics.

Pass it and pathways open — to further study, to professional programs, to opportunities that list it as a baseline requirement. Don't pass it, and those doors stay closed, often for years. It's not that Caribbean students aren't capable. It's that the preparation gap is real, and for many students, the support simply isn't there.

That's the gap Rising Tide was built to close.

What Rising Tide is

The Rising Tide Scholars Fund is EmpowerU's free CXC Mathematics tutoring program for Sint Maarten secondary school students. Fully funded, delivered online, and built specifically for students preparing for their CXC exams.

This cycle, 25 seats are available to students at St. Maarten Academy, Charlotte Brookson Academy, St. Dominic High School, and MAC High. No cost to families. No application fee. Just access to quality tutoring that too many Sint Maarten students haven't been able to count on.

Why math specifically

EmpowerU supports students across all fields — not just STEM, not just one type of ambition. But CXC Mathematics sits in front of almost every door. Nursing programs require it. Business degrees require it. Technical certifications require it. Even students who don't love math need to pass it to get to the thing they do love.

Investing in CXC Math preparation isn't about narrowing the focus. It's about removing

the barrier that stands in front of almost every path forward.

How it works

Tutoring is delivered online by Mariska Carty, an experienced educator who brings both subject expertise and genuine investment in her students' success. Sessions are structured around the CXC syllabus, timed to the exam cycle, and designed to meet students where they are — not where the curriculum assumes they should be.

Applications for the current cycle opened in May 2026 and close July 31. Winners will be announced in August. If you missed this cycle, the program will run again — and the best thing you can do now is make sure the students in your life know it exists.

What we're building toward

Rising Tide is a pilot. Twenty-five students this cycle. But the model — free, online, locally grounded, fully funded — is designed to grow. More students, more subjects, more cycles. The goal is a program that becomes part of the fabric of Sint Maarten's education ecosystem, not a one-time event.

Every student who passes their CXC Math because of Rising Tide is proof that the gap is closeable. That's what we're building toward.

Rising Tide applications close July 31. Follow EmpowerU at empoweru.online to stay updated — and share this with any Sint Maarten student or parent who needs to know this program exists.