Valedictorian: It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish

First degree graduates of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus are being encouraged to utilise the same determination that they used to see them through their studies to take them through life. This from Valedictorian Iyka Dorival as she gave her speech during Saturday’s virtual graduation ceremony.

Revealing that her own journey began with rejection as she was unsuccessful in her initial application to the university’s Law Faculty in 2018, Dorival noted that after going in to study Political Science and Law, she was able to transfer to her desired field after the first year and work towards securing her dream. Stating that she was humbled and honoured to be delivering the valedictorian address at the auspicious ceremony, she highlighted several of the challenges that some of them were forced to face.

“It’s not how you start – and for most of us, our start was financial despondence – but it’s how you finish. At the beginning of this journey many of us had doubts, particularly as it related to financing our degrees. Doubts as to whether to take that exorbitant loan or whether we’d be successful enough to service it. Doubts as to exhausting that savings account that took years to grow. Doubts as to whether after countless rejected scholarship and financial assistance applications, we would finally get hold of that one that said ‘Congratulations’. Doubts about countless other personal struggles that could impact our journey. But guess what? Even through these less than ideal circumstances, take a look at where we are today. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” she said.

Urging her compatriots to not allow the mode of the ceremony to detract from their achievement, she saluted them for being the first to successfully navigate the transition from in-person to virtual learning at this level.

“Along this journey, many times the obstacles felt insurmountable. Whether it was the loss of loved ones, our own physical health challenges, the continued uncertainty of financing our degrees, the mental turmoil caused by the debilitating weight of mental illnesses, the numerous failures and struggles in grappling course content, or even the uncertainty of whether we could successfully make a seamless transition in our mode of learning after completing half of our degree in the traditional face-to-face environment and the latter half virtually. These obstacles are now a testament of our strength and resilience, because look at where we are today.”

Going on to say that each graduate would forever be a part of each island in the region as the university provided the perfect melting pot for them, she also added that their journeys were different but in so many ways the same. Expressing gratitude to the support systems of each student for the intrinsic roles they all played, she urged her colleagues to show the same commitment as they began their new chapters in life.

“The dream of a strengthened regional integration movement should not be lost when we are finally in the position to champion the cause or to ensure that this region – our region – continues to produce quality graduates and improve on the socio-economic challenges for the betterment of us all. This journey, like none other, proved to us the significance of ‘alone we are strong, but together we are so much stronger’. I implore us to never lose sight of the vision we saw for our region as students because I undoubtedly believe that this graduating class possesses the intellect, the innovation, the perseverance and the vigourto institutionalise the active reform we desperately need,” she said. (MP)