November 2012


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I stand before you today, not as a lecturer, so do not expect 100 slides per hour. I stand before you not as a politician, so don’t expect me to make promises I cannot deliver. I stand before you not as a lawyer, so could someone please explain to me Section 34? I stand before you not even as a professional engineer, so please don’t expect me to integrate into my speech any 1st or 2nd Principles that would have x’ed out persons from understanding y they were here. Please, if I say anything you don’t understand, welcome to the life of an engineer.

Good afternoon again. My name is Denilson Christopher and I have completed a BSc in Chemical and Process Engineering. I do stand before you today as a student, a graduate, a voice for the Graduating class of 2012 for the Faculties of Engineering and Law. I am honoured to be addressing you this evening and I congratulate all of you on this golden occasion. With golden in mind, I also wish to congratulate Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago on celebrating their 50th Anniversary as independent states this year.

For most of us, this journey began with looking for our names on a sheet of paper or receiving mail saying that we have been accepted. Our first few days in UWI were spent in bank lines and registering for courses that all had peculiar names and numbers. There are some courses we hope never to see again. Nevertheless, we registered and began to attend classes. We smiled with all the lecturers, put on our best attire that we had just bought some weeks ago and most importantly attended all our classes. By week four, we realized that there was no need for ironing our clothes for class, no need for our smiles with the lecturers, and no need to attend all our… sorry, attending all our classes was still a need.

My first year was filled with sleepless nights, stressed-out mornings, unbearably cold classrooms, and microwaved food! I had hoped one day that this would be a thing of the past but it became my “UWI-experience”. But there was a flip side to this. My three years were also filled with meeting lifelong friends from different countries, being educated with great knowledge, living on the only hall in UWI, Milner Hall, being actively involved in the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship club, and pursuing various sporting disciplines. I thoroughly enjoyed these past few years: from wearing unorthodox clothes in the promotion of Hall concerts, to singing at my class thanksgiving to hosting a small-goal football competition for all the halls. I was torn in several different directions, attempting to lead a balanced life.

Today, I also wish to highlight some of your memories. It was interesting to hear from students, the adventures and activities that your classes were involved in.

For the Law students, Legally Insane Week and Law Week were the two major memories. Law week showed the Cave Hill campus that the Faculty of Law was the best faculty and Legally Insane week gave the law students the opportunity to dress “wacky”. If Law didn’t work out for you, what would you be? was the theme for one of the days. Students dressed in vagrant clothes, and other professions that I am not allowed to say.

The flora and fauna from the pond next to the civil building, Maths 1 class with Dr. Wahid and Nat Sci pies would always be remembered by the Engineering students. But it was final year which brought a wonderful ending to their journey. Seeing your classmates vent for the first time while working on final year projects, realizing your lecturers were just like you (minus the experience) and finally getting to relax and go out as a class was probably one of the most rewarding feelings at the end of the year.

I’m sure you can all agree with me when I say that it was not always smooth sailing. Firstly the pressures of academics grew exponentially as the years progressed and we were forced to make sacrifices. Social limes, quality time with our girlfriends or boyfriends, and even time with our family had to decrease to make room for studying. Not only was there pressure from academics but also from life itself. We had to mourn the passing of persons like Toromba from Chemical Engineering and Shara, the beloved secretary from Civil Engineering.

We battled through all of these, and we victoriously sit here today. Judging from all these experiences, I can safely say, Venimus, vidimus, vicimus! – We came, we saw, we conquered!

I realized that we are more than students in a school environment, we are actually Over-comers. I say to this graduating class of 2012, that you are Over-comers! And you should all applaud yourself for a job well done. We are all here today because we kept pressing, because we kept running and because we had faith. I know for sure that it is because of faith, I am standing here. I know without a doubt that the recipe for my success was hard work and faith in God. Even as we move forward towards careers and further studies, we must keep having faith and working hard. You can also use your experiences to help others be an Over-comer. It was Martin Luther King Jr who said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”

We are products of the help and support that others gave. I take this time to thank our lecturers who day after day taught us in the best way they could. Thanks to our friends who became our teachers, punching bags, and sometimes even our elder brothers and sisters. I thank our families who have supported us behind the scenes making sure we were emotionally stable, properly fed and financially sound. I want to thank my parents especially for all their sacrifices and I dedicate this speech to them as they celebrate their 29th anniversary on the 29th of this month. Finally, I want to thank God. Without Him we can do nothing and with Him, we can do all things.