AWARDS
Graduates Urged to Plan for the Future
“Learn well that life is not about standing idly by and allowing others to dictate your future.” These words of advice came from honorary graduate Dr. Joy St. John , Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) as she addressed The UWI, Cave Hill Class of 2022 last October. In her address to the campus’s first in- person graduation ceremony since 2019, the Caribbean’s top public health official paid tribute to healthcare providers across the region for keeping citizens safe during the height of the pandemic and later urged the new graduates to take responsibility for their future. “The strength of your conviction is the force that you must nurture and exercise,” said Dr. St. John, who was conferred a Doctor of Science (DSc) for her work in medicine and public health leadership. “Having just lived through a pandemic that has lasted two and a half years and counting, we recognise that this may not be the last great crisis. Therefore, planning for how we approach future crises is critical. You are the future, and we will depend on you, young and young at heart graduates, to help us navigate what life on planet Earth is becoming.”
O ver 1,400 students at the graduate level — in the customary morning and evening ceremonies that were made possible owing to a relaxation of COVID-19 protocols. Immediately after the ceremonies, hundreds gathered with former classmates, family, friends, and well-wishers for photographs to capture the joyous moment with lasting memories. graduated in a face-to- face setting — 1,019 undergraduates and 412
Dr. Joy St. John Executive Director, Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA)
As had occurred across the global
tertiary education sector, a large percentage of graduates spent much of their learning experience receiving online instruction after the pandemic forced a suspension of in-person classes in March 2020. Thereafter, the 2020 and 2021 graduation ceremonies, which were
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