Janeil Odle being presented with her scroll from Campus Registrar, Rommel Carter. She graduated with the highest GPA, gaining First Class Honours from the Faculty of Law.
Dame Selma Jackman being conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Robert Bermudez.
Valedictorian, Zachary Phillips.
Become mentors
Graduates of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus are being encouraged to be mentors of young people, who they believe are failing to achieve their potential.
Chancellor of the UWI, Robert Bermudez, believes this is the way to make communities stronger and societies better educated. He was at the time addressing the morning session of the 2017 Graduation Ceremony of the Cave Hill Campus, yesterday.
“I would like to see a renewed sense of civic responsibility. Our geography, our history, our size, our culture and our economies give us reasons to consider each other as family.
“This University, spread as it is across the region, represents all of our commonalities and all of our difference. You are now part of the UWI family, use it to your advantage,” he urged.
While congratulating the graduates, the new Chancellor also impressed upon them not to allow anyone to ever tell them that they can’t achieve their ambition, or discourage them from their dreams.
“Believe in yourself… Go follow your dreams,” Bermudez remarked, highlighting the achievement of Janeil Odle, who graduated with the highest GPA from the Faculty of Law.
“Janeil has a visual impairment, but never allowed that to prevent her from achieving her ambition of reading law; further, she topped her class. I am certain that today’s success is just the beginning for her. Let her be an inspiration for us all.
“We must become more assured of ourselves and not be afraid of change… We are a talented people, but our past too often follows us to our detriment… There is strength in knowing where you have come from, but we cannot allow ourselves to be paralysed by our historical circumstances,” the Chancellor added.
During the ceremony, Dame Selma Jackman was conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science for her work as a surgeon. Dame Selma, a Barbadian, is one of the first ever Caribbean-born female surgeons to have qualified and worked in the Caribbean region after having gained the majority of her clinical experience in the Caribbean. (TL)