93 Students graduated from the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College this year and one of is smallest batches. Photo. Dean H. Greenaway aka The Sportsman

A section of the graduating class at the ceremony held on Thursday June 28, 2018. Photo: Dean H. Greenaway aka The Sportsman

The students have been implored by the Honourable Minister of Education Hon. Myron V. Walwyn to come together as one people regardless of differences that are driving them apart. Photo: Dean H. Greenaway aka The Sportsman

The 2018 class was one of the smallest ever, as they graduated at a time when the economy is weak following two Category 5 hurricanes that destroyed the Territory in September 2017.

There were the usual motivational speeches from politicians, faculty, students and the keynote speaker was former Deputy Governor V. Inez Archibald.

Politicians speak just rhetoric?

Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL), who is at the end of his political career, also told the class of 2018, “do not wait until you get there. Envision in your mind what your future looks like and then actively take the necessary steps to get there”.

The Minister for Education and Culture and Chairman of the National Democratic Party (NDP) Hon Myron V. Walwyn (AL), who has seen a decline of the college under his portfolio, also spoke telling the graduates,   “regardless of the differences we may have, I put it to you that we have more in common than we have differences. One of the things we have in common is these Virgin Islands, and that love, if it is genuine love, will cause us to put aside the things that seem to be dividing us and bring us together as one people because we are indeed one people.”

Top students & a new President

Meanwhile, nine students were given Certificates of Achievement and 93 awarded Associate of Science degrees. Seven graduates had doubled in sciences and the arts and were accordingly awarded.

The President’s awards went to Emmanuel O. Borokinni and Eula Alica-Nesia Thomas for having the highest cumulative Grade Point Average for full and part-time students, respectively.

The Faculty of the Year award went to Rochelle Smith, a lecturer for the Humanities, Social Sciences and Communications Department.

It was also announced that Vice President Judith E. Vanterpool will assume the Presidency of the Collage, a story first and accurately reported by our newsroom a week before government made it public.