The National Newspaper of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
FRIDAY,
JUNE 30, 2017
VOLUME 111, No.26
www.thevincentian.com
Recent graduates of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College.
by WILLIAM ‘KOJAH’ ANTHONY GAMAL ‘SKINNY FABULOUS’ DOYLE is a past student of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College. In 2010 he obtained a Bachelor’s degree from the University of the West Indies. He is used to facing huge crowds, but last Tuesday at Victoria Park, no stranger place to him, he confessed that he is not a favourite when it comes to speaking to audiences. He is more comfortable, he admitted, with an accompanying musical band or tracks. Whatever his confessed fears, whatever the comments regarding the choice, ‘Skinny’, as he is now affectionately referred to, was the Guest Speaker at last Tuesday’s 2017 Graduation Exercise of the SVG Community College. Sporting his trademark black jacket with maroon trimmings decorated with intricate laces, black jersey, black trousers, shin-high boots, black hat and designer shades, he cut a dapper figure on stage, from where he told, without accompaniment, the story of his life in raw and unedited script. He held a conversation with his listeners, in which he reminded the graduates that, while the tendency is to look at graduation
as an “end ….. climax,” it was in fact “the beginning of your journey.” He encouraged them to be “upwardly mobile,”….. to look “for ways to achieve success and to follow that path.” The entertainer/entrepreneur extraordinaire made it clear that “academics” were not all to it, and that an ‘A’ Grade does not entitle you. “You have to go and knock on opportunity’s door,” ‘Skinny’ advised, adding that, even after the door has been opened, “it is your duty to work hard to ensure enhancement.” There are two words which seem to propel the Vincentian Soca superstar. These are ‘no’, and ‘can’t’. He described them as “cousins,” and indicated, “I get excited when I hear these words.” He urged listeners to “embrace” those words, and “soon they will turn into ‘yes’ and ‘can’.” The feature speaker noted that ideas/innovations were in abundance, and he scolded persons not to be “afraid of failure.” Gamal ‘Skinny Fabulous’ Doyle had a different kind but equally stirring performance and message, at a familiar ground.
EC$1.50