EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from the address by The UWI Chancellor Dr Dodridge Miller.

Today we gather not merely to mark the end of an academic chapter, but to celebrate the beginning of a new Caribbean story, one that you, the graduates of 2025, are uniquely positioned to assist in crafting.

You did not arrive here by accident. You arrived through sacrifice, through resilience, through nights of study and days of doubt, through balancing (in some cases) work and school, family and ambition, hardship and hope. You arrived through hurricanes, both literal and metaphorical. You arrived through the pandemic’s lingering shadows, through economic uncertainty, through the quiet battles that no one saw, but you endured nonetheless.

Class of 2025, you have not only completed your course of study; you have also grown intellectually, emotionally, and socially. You represent the best of our region. And your growth does not stop here. Your journey continues not just academically, but as leaders in your communities, and as guardians of our shared future.

You are graduating into a global environment increasingly shaped by national self-interest, where the idea of a shared responsibility for the prosperity of mankind is failing. Where the preservation of a way of life for all is no longer guaranteed. Where climate change, inequality, and conflict threaten the very fabric of our collective future.

And yet here you are, standing tall, ready. As graduates of The University of the West Indies, you stand on a solid foundation. You have been equipped with knowledge, perspective, and the ability to think critically. In addition, you have inherited the legacy of decades of Caribbean leadership in many important global areas.

This level of leadership and more are required now. In this still-evolving environment, you are not just graduates. You are builders. You are architects. You are the designers of a Caribbean that refuses to be defined by size, by limitation, or by the outdated assumptions of others. You are part of the generation that must reset the agenda.