Class of 2022 of the SVGS may be best equipped graduates – Headmaster

THE YOUNG men who graduated this year from the St Vincent Grammar School may very well prove to be the best equipped group of graduates the school has produced; they having risen above a volley of challenges to attain success.

Declaring the young men “the cream of the crop”, headmaster of the school, Colin Hugh Sam, during his address at the graduation ceremony on June 29 at the Kingstown Baptist Church, said that from water issues, Covid 19, to the eruption of La Soufriere, the young men showed great perseverance to succeed despite these challenges.

He suggested that the rough time ensured that his charges were better prepared for life and the disappointments and challenges they may face along the journey.

He used the opportunity to caution parents, guardians and society at large to move away from the damaging tendency of guarding the young women, while having a more unbothered approach to guiding the young men of our society.

“We must desist from letting go of our boys to the wilds of the world,” Headmaster Sam said.

Meanwhile, feature speaker, accountant Kirk DaSilva charged the young men to think big and live their lives with passion. He noted that the true success will only come if they are willing to stretch themselves… “beyond your comfort zone.”

He drew on the history of former West Indian cricket greats who played the game as “passionate, rebellious men”. DaSilva said that the fire to be excellent and to push came from a recognition of the evil of Caribbean’s colonial past, and cricket was used as a form of pride as they excelled against the colonial master’s teams.

He suggested that the lackluster performance that has plagued modern West Indian cricketers is because “they do not recognize the significance of cricket to West Indians.”

He used the opportunity to make a plea to the Ministry of Education to ensure that Caribbean History is a compulsory subject, taught at every secondary school in St Vincent and the Grenadines, noting that it is “pathetic” that this isn’t the case at the moment.

Valedictorian Nicholai Edwards applauded his fellow graduates, saying that as a graduating class they have demonstrated amazing perseverance in the midst of the physically, mentally draining last couple years in which they were called upon to succeed in spite of the challenges.