2003 Fredericton Encaenia - Ceremony B

Valedictory Address

Delivered by: Sampson, Paul

Content
“Valedictory Address by Paul Sampson” (29 May 2003): 1-2. (UA Case 68, Box 2)

Your Honour, Minister Green, Your Worship, Mr. Chancellor, Mr. President, honoured guests, faculty, family and friends, fellow graduates: it is my pleasure to celebrate this day with you and my honour to have the opportunity to address you.

My first week at UNB one of my professors stood before the class and said, “By the time you graduates from UNB you will not remember the way in which you thought about the world before you came here.” His tone was ominous. His message resonated with finality. Never did my years of university seems to stretch so endlessly ahead. However, since then, I’ve come to learn the truth of his statement. Change and growth are an inevitable part of life and our time spent at university is a most concentrated example of this.

We are able to be here today for many different reasons. We are here because of the support of our families. For that we are grateful and thank them. We are also here because of the dedication and enthusiasm of UNB’s faculty. We also thank them for making today possible.

Certainly we are here because of the time and effort that we have put into our studies. We could all measure our out time at UNB in many different ways: days spent reading at home and in the library; endless cups of coffee; hours spent in class listening, discussing, taking notes; words typed on computers as we wrote and researches.

Better yet, we could measure out our time here in terms of how much we’ve learned:


  • With every book we read, we opened our minds to a new point of view.

  • With every paper we wrote, we learned new ways to express our ideas.

  • With every exam we handed in, we learned from our successes and our errors.

  • With every new person we met, with every new friend we made, and with every new culture we encountered, we learned something new about ourselves and about the world around us.

  • With every trip to the Social Club, we learned that although it sounds like a classy enough place, you won’t get kicked out for not wearing a shirt and tie



So when remembering our time at UNB, we can think in terms of the effort we’ve put into our studies and we can think about what we’ve learned and how it’s helped us to change. But most importantly we should remember how all of these things and how the very success we celebrate today will allow us to create change in the world.

I remember my first day at UNB. Though it was three years ago and though we have learned and changes so much in that time, the day is still clear in my mind. It was a warm, early September day. Eighty of us piled together into Ludlow Hall for the first time. The dean gathered us before her and asked us to take turns introducing ourselves and explaining why we’d chosen to come to law school. There were people who had degrees in business and English, biology and engineering, political science and chemistry. There were people who had worked with banks and schools and the RCMP. One fellow said he was interested in Aboriginal rights. One woman said she’d become interested in law school only after working as a counselor for trauma victims. Another guy said he’d come to law school only after coming to the realization that he wasn’t going to be a rock star. One woman said she decided to come back to school because she had become tired of her former job as a waitress.

Then the dean asked the class a series of questions. First she asked how many people has come to law school because they were interested in making a lot of money. A few laughs came from the crowd and a couple of hands shot up in the air. Then she asked how many had come to law school because they had family member who were lawyers – only a handful of people raise their arms. “Surprising few,” the dean has commented. Finally she asked who had come to law school because they were interested in helping people.

Sitting at the front of the class, I was hesitant to look too eager to my new classmates. However, I raised my hand slowly, tentatively. Then just as slowly I turned my head to look back at the class and there they were – 80 young men and women, 80 strangers, 80 first-year law students – all with their hands held high in the air.

I was impressed and I remember thinking to myself, “I can’t wait to get to know these people.” And I did. And it was fantastic.
And, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Thank you.

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