This Week We Feature Young Professional Chezley L. D. Stoddard
Passion, determination and love are three key factors that drive one to sure success and if one is to spend any amount of time with our Young Professional for this week, Mr Chezley L. D. Stoddard, there would be no challenge in concluding that those factors are the reasons for his success.
He is a person that represents the profession of ‘Engineers’ very well, a profession which is absolutely necessary in almost every facet of the development of any country but yet seldom takes centre stage when it comes to recognition for its huge role in building an economy.
Mr Stoddard is a young man who holds a Masters Degree in Project Engineering from the Boston University. Having gone through the foundational studies at high school here in the country of his birth, the Virgin Islands, he first left these shores to study at the New England Institute of Technology where he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree.
He recalls very vividly being among the last batch of students at High School to have been under the principal management of Mr Elmore Stoutt after whom the High School has been named.
“I graduated from high school as a receptionist but during my tenure there one of my teachers, God bless Ms Turnbull from East End, because our class were a special class, because we were the last class of Mr Stoutt being the principal, she (Ms Turnbull) told our class that 'there are 30 of you in this class that will be graduating and all of you are going to be qualified receptionists but there would only be one company that would be hiring one person, so what the rest of you are going to do? he recalled as if it was said to him just yesterday.
“That resonates with me very strongly and made me realise that I cannot follow the norm. I had to be different; I had to dare to be different. So from that perspective I went home and did some research, spoke with some people in education and asked what Tortola needed going forward,” he said.
Because of his love for science he thought the field of engineering would be best suited for him as he was advised along the paths of accounting, engineering and a number of other possible careers he could have chosen from.
“At that time I didn’t know what kind of engineering to do but I was told at that time that there was a new field of engineering which is called Construction Project Management and that people and banks would require that construction sites have some kind of personnel to be keeping records and on track on what’s going on with projects so that money is spent accurately and products are being produced at the same time…. Today I am a proud product of taking that leap because I am on one of the biggest projects on Tortola right now. It was a gamble and it paid off,” he said.
He recalled hearing the infrastructure engineer for the Peebles Hospital saying, “we as engineers keep societies alive but we don’t get the credit for it as much but I would say once societies are happy we are happy as engineers.”
For this reason he underscored the importance of a technical school as being an absolute necessity but not one that is designed to put only persons who do not make it in a high school but it must be an open option for whoever wants to be there.
“Yes,” he said. There must be a place for those who are not necessarily the ‘book and brains’ type. “Those persons once given the opportunity to do the things that spark their interest the most often turn out very successful and accomplished in society and there must be an avenue for them to get the required training and qualifications,” said Mr Stoddard.
If it should be that one day he chooses to give the profession of engineer a second seat and turn to something for a while, he said accounting would be foremost. However, he said that in the next five to ten years he sees himself elevating to the senior stage of managing their family business, “That is if daddy decides to move on or says he is retiring, my father loves what he does.”
Mr Stoddard also has a knack for politics and shared that while it is not something he would pursue now he would wish to take on political leadership roles in the future but not unless he is one of the people’s choices. “If I am asked to I would do it, I have a feel for it but wouldn’t run into it in full at this stage of my life.”
Socially he describes himself as what he calls, “A middle social kind of guy” not seen very much out there doing the things the average young man does but is out there hanging with his small circle of friends, partying, being involved in sports playing domino, hanging on the block wih the boys and the likes of those.
Before giving his advice to the younger generation of today he recalled his boyhood days when he engaged in activities like swimming, jumping the Beef Island Bridge, running around the community playing ball and boating.
“Today we hardly see children outside playing. Technology is robbing our children of the natural stuff, they in the house on a smart phone, behind the TV, playing some electronic games, they are missing out on some of the most fun things in life, those things are still there for them to do but life has changed from what I knew it to be as a boy growing up especially in East End.”
“What I want to tell young people in essence is that you don’t have to be a ‘books and brains’ person to be successful in any country you want to go. You can use your hands, dare to be different, go into engineering, go into technical areas and you can survive. Clarence Thomas is the biggest example of that. He was a plumber and he built a whole empire from being just a plumber. Many of our accomplished business persons built empires from just doing technical stuff. So you don’t have to be wearing a suit and tie to make it in the BVI or anywhere in the world…. I’ll tell anybody to learn a trade,” said our Young Professional.
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29 Responses to “This Week We Feature Young Professional Chezley L. D. Stoddard”
I am very proud of you Chezley, you've turned into a wonderful young man with a promising, challenging and interesting career ahead of you. Keep smiling! :)