Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to share a thought with you about the word student.

If you Google the word student, you will find many, many definitions. What I realized after doing this is that the word student does not have a universal definition. For me the meaning of it has changed from when I first started studying at UCW to now, as a graduate. I used to think that being a student was about memorizing, taking exams and that’s it. But after being at UCW I realized that being a student is about finding your passion and nourishing it through creating and excelling. It’s about finding your superpower and mastering it, and by superpower I don’t mean what Superman or Spiderman have, I mean the unique quality every person has, the unique quality that he or she can do and enjoy better than anyone else. This unique trait is their superpower.

It allows them to add value to their life and future workplace.

One of the first classes that I took at UCW was a philosophy course with Dr. Bruce Hiebert. I didn’t think that I would do well in it or that I even had to take it. But this course ended up being one of the most important courses I have ever taken, and I ended up getting an A+ in it because we were encouraged to have discussions, to think freely, to think outside of the box and challenge the obvious. We didn’t have to be right or wrong, we just had to understand the point of view of others and accept it even if we disagreed. We had to learn how to work with others and communicate with them. We also had to make sure that when we presented our points of view to others, we made sure that others understood our perspective and we understand theirs.

I used to think that because I’m in a business school, there’s no need for me to take courses such as biology, and I’m sure every student here has similar examples of courses they thought they didn’t need to take. These courses were electives, and I took them only because I had to. But I found that I was able to answer questions in conversations about the human body, the environment and many other areas, and that one way or another from the electives I took, I learned and benefited from the courses that I didn’t want to take. So, we shouldn’t limit ourselves and learn about a specific subject only because the more we are exposed to knowledge, the more we learn. Exposure is the key.

All of these courses at UCW taught us how to analyze situations and how to solve problems, which is a key that each successful businessperson should have. So, I think being a student is about finding yourself, which means, discovering your superpower.

On behalf of all the students, I’d like to thank UCW for helping us in finding our superpowers. A genuine appreciation to all the faculty members and administration. A dear thanks to all our families and friends, the ones who are here with us and the ones that couldn’t make it.

And before all, thank you God for giving us the blessing of knowledge.

On that note, I’d like to congratulate all my fellow classmates and myself, because none of us would be standing here today if we were not capable of achieving. Standing here today is hard evidence that we all have the power to accomplish everything we want. And this is only the beginning of our journey. Good luck on all your future endeavors, and congratulations.

 

!!WRITTEN BY UCW NEWS TEAM!!