Tamrah Brown
Valedictory Speech
UWI Mona Graduation Ceremony 2015
Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Principal of the Mona Campus, other distinguished members of the
platform party, Ministers of Government, specially invited guests, ladies and gentlemen,
graduating class of 2015… Good evening!
Words can hardly describe how honoured I feel to be standing here today, representing the
abundance of accomplishments, personified by each of you graduates seated before me. When
we first arrived on campus, we automatically inherited the title “the UWI Pelican” and like a
baby bird, breaking out of its shell, the world seemed filled with new possibilities and
opportunities as that stage of our lives began. Learning to fly was definitely not easy, but today, I
stand proudly to tell you that we are, undoubtedly, PELICANS ON THE RISE. #POTR.
As I reflected on our UWI experience and what being a Pelican truly represented, I decided to
seek facts in the most obvious place – the National Geography website. This is what I
discovered.
#POTRFact. Pelicans are located all over the world. The UWI brings together students from all
walks of life, from different races and cultures: Barbados, T&T, St. Kitts to name a few, each
one contributing to the diverse nature of the campus. Pelicans are described as majestic; we are
the crème of the crop. We have all been given a wonderful opportunity to create the building
blocks to our ultimate, individual goals and, today, we’re soaring in the glory of being identified
among UWI’s prestigious list of graduates, some of whom have made indelible marks on their
country, the Caribbean region and the world at large. PELICANS ON THE RISE.
#POTRFact. Pelicans are known to be very social and are usually found travelling in groups.
Every UWI Pelican knows how to have a good time and regardless of what we classify as ‘fun’,
there is always that group of friends that share the same enjoyment when it is time to unwind and
enjoy what UWI has to offer. If there is one thing I know about surviving UWI, it is that nothing
defined as challenging can be tackled individually; whether it is planning and executing the
social marketing campaign, building quad copters in the engineering lab, spending all-nighters in
the main library, conducting educational assessments to improve the Government ASTEP
program in schools, coding your C++ assignment with friends in the computer science lab or
tackling a difficult question for days, literally days (and yes this is the Math department I am
referring to from personal experience), we all have learnt how to work co-operatively in order to
meet our shared objectives.
#POTRFact. Pelicans are excellent hunters of food. Whether it’s stopping by a bake sale for a
sweet treat, going to Juici, Miss Jackie’s stall, Nardo’s stall, or even making the trek
over to Spot or to the cafeterias in the halls of residence… every UWI Pelican knows that food
time is food time.
#POTRFact. Pelicans are known to be versatile, buoyant and well balanced. In the midst of all
the assignments due, we have found time out of our busy work schedules to participate in extracurricular activities and spread our wings to others in need, through volunteerism. We also
dominate in sports: we are champions in volleyball, we excel at the UWI-UTECH games, and
our own football team recently won the play-offs to secure a spot in the Red Stripe Premier
League.
#POTRFact. There are eight known species of Pelicans. Incidentally, each of the two faculties
represented here today has eight departments. My home was the Mathematics department and a
better home I could not have found. The Math Department is known to have some very
Charismatic, Richly educated, Ambitious, Zealous and Yearning students and lecturers (and if
you derive the acronym from these words, you get CRAZY but I guarantee you, that’s just a
coincidence). We were a family and I truly learnt the meaning of teamwork during the time I
spent there. We not only gained a vast amount of knowledge in our field of study, but also learnt
some useful life lessons. I will always cherish the memories we had as a group and if I should be
asked to create a success model for what lies ahead, the solution would go something like this:
Based on historical data, then with a high expectation of success, low variance in failures and
minimal standard deviation from our goals and aspirations, the resulting model would equate to a
high probability of us reaching our dreams.
We cannot exclude our support groups. We are here today, PELICANS ON THE RISE, because
our wings have not failed us. To our lecturers, we owe the greatest gratitude, for providing us
with the necessary tools to succeed and enabling us to rise to the occasion. Our parents,
guardians, other family members and our friends, all who provided encouragement and SAW
greatness in us even when we could not SEE it ourselves. Your vision of greatness for us is part
of the reason we are here today and I speak on behalf of everyone when I say; thank you for
being our eyes, guiding us to new heights. We are truly appreciative and we hope that we have
made you proud.
Pelicans are known to soar to up to a maximum height of… you know what, I won’t share that
limit with you today because I strongly believe that once our dreams have no limits, our abilities
can take us to places we never dreamed of. I am living proof of this and I know that each of us
will dream big and soar even higher. At the beginning of my UWI journey, I posted the
following quote in a notepad on my desktop because the words spoke volumes to me and acted
as a source of encouragement every time I turned on the computer to attack my upcoming
assignments. It was taken from the inaugural speech of the great Nelson Mandela in 1994. These
words are a part of the reason I can stand before you today, and so I feel obligated to share them
with you.
Quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask
ourselves ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and famous?’ Actually, who are
you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around
you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of
us, it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others.” Unquote.
So do not forget: #UWIPrideTruePride #AimHighSoarHigh #WeDidIt!!! #PelicansOnTheRise
#POTR.
God bless you and thank you so much.