Graduation Speech 2014
Thank you Distinguished Guests Graduands Members of staff Members of the Media Ladies and gentlemen Welcome and a pleasant good afternoon to each of you here at the Hyatt Regency, and to those of you who are viewing a live stream of this event via the worldwide-web. This is SBCS’ 27th year of delivering quality tertiary education to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and the wider region, and our 15th graduation ceremony, and yet, I continue to be amazed and humbled by the scope and scale of our achievements in the area of human development each year. Today, however, it is not about us, it is about you, our graduands. Today we celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of over 800 graduands. A truly magnificent feat! At the end of this afternoon into evening’s ceremony you will join a growing community of SBCS alumni that now numbers just under six thousand and the alumni associations of the universities which have awarded you your degrees. These degrees are not easily achieved, and we are very cognizant of the tremendous effort and sacrifices made by each of you over the course of your study to Office of the Executive Director | Date Released: 04/26/14
Page 1
Graduation Speech 2014 arrive at this moment. Graduands on behalf of the members of staff at SBCS and our university partners I would like to congratulate you on your academic achievements and your determination to succeed. We know, however, that you had help along the way. And the adage - it takes a village to raise a child rings true this evening. Parents, guardians, friends, well-wishers and teachers, thank you for supporting our graduands, their success is also your success! Please continue to support them. Graduands it’s our hope that the years spent with SBCS have not only been productive, but also enjoyable, and that during this period each of you would have experienced great learning that has led to your evolution, not just as a student but as a human being. The theme of this year’s function is: Exceptional Learners … Exceptional Graduates. If I were to take this to its natural conclusion it would lead to Exceptional human beings! Success for SBCS and its university partners is not just about awarding degrees, it’s also about molding and shaping lives. It is about providing an immersive learning experience, a learning experience that not only prepares our students to excel at tough assessments, but one that more importantly prepares them to be valuable members of the human race. To be proponents of change of the type that will fundamentally lead to better societies, countries, and in time - a better world. John Stuart Mill, one of the greatest philosophers of the 19 th century likened human beings to trees. He believed that if a tree was not given the space to develop, it would grow to be weak and twisted. But in the right position or ecosystem, it would fulfill its potential and reach a great height and spread. Similarly, in the right circumstances human beings flourish. This redounds not only to the benefit of the individual but for the whole of society. This is our goal at SBCS.
Office of the Executive Director | Date Released: 04/26/14
Page 2
Graduation Speech 2014 Graduands, you are our hope for a better and brighter future, however, the world of work will be your true test. It is the crucible where the mettle of your learning and character will be fully tested. It is the arena where many of your new and wonderful ideas formed and perfected during your years of studies will often be dismissed and written off as being too theoretical and disruptive by the status quo; and where after a while you may start feeling like Sisyphus, the king in Greek mythology whose punishment by the Gods was to roll a rock to the top of a mountain, only to watch it roll back down and to repeat this action forever. They (the Gods) thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. This is the common refrain that I hear from many graduates who had hoped to do great things after graduating, but were slowly dis-illusioned by the recalcitrant majority that comprises the human resource of most organizations. No matter, how great the teaching and learning, you will find that effecting change is tough and at times slow and painful in the majority of organizations where the dominant culture will resist change. It is easy to be discouraged by naysayers – people who are content to complain but are not willing to step up and make a difference. My advice to you, our exceptional graduands is to start with the small things - the things that you have control over. You will soon find that the big and forbidding things will eventually fall into place.
(William Bratton) Don’t let the dominant culture of
defeatism overwhelm you, recognize that the future can be and is bright. Your years of study have forged you into a being who is capable of overcoming challenges; someone with a sense of purpose and optimism that extends far beyond the acquisition of material wealth at all costs. Graduands, I wish each and every one of you the happiness of a productive life, the respect of your fellow human beings, and the love of your family. Members of staff, Office of the Executive Director | Date Released: 04/26/14
Page 3
Graduation Speech 2014 please accept my heartfelt thanks for playing a truly pivotal role in transforming our region’s human capital into its most valuable natural resource. SBCS deeply values the partnerships we have forged with the Universities of:
Greenwich
Sunderland
London
Leicester
And the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University. I would like to take this opportunity to convey my sincere thanks to all our UK
academic partners, for without them none of this would have been possible. Graduands today is your day to pause, to rest and reflect on your accomplishments, but only for a moment, for your work has only just begun. Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your kind attention.
Office of the Executive Director | Date Released: 04/26/14
Page 4