Valedictory Address

“1997 Valedictory Address” (May 1997): 1-5. (UA Case 68, Box 1)

Lieutenant Governor, Chancellor Easton, President, Vice President Miner, Government officials, Distinguished Guests, Parents, Guardians, Spouses and Friends, and most importantly fellow members of the 1997 Graduating class, I welcome you to the 23rd annual UNBSJ spring convocation.

I feel privileged to have the opportunity to bid farewell to you on behalf of the 1997 grad class.

Wow! It seems like just the other day when I was trying to remember which building was Oland Hall, Hazen Hall and Ganong Hall. A couple of days thereafter I arrived in Professor Flora Beckett’s math class. By this time I was starting to become concerned about the degree of difficulty of university. After all, why is it that such a large number of students fail by Christmas time their first year? I was just starting to contemplate the issue when Professor Beckett made it all clear. She told us the three secrets of success in her class and, as far as I could figure, in university in general. They are: go to class, do your assigned work, and the third step, if necessary, is to go to her for extra help. My university jitters started to calm down as I soon found that Professor Beckett’s “magical” secret of success seemed to work quite well for all my courses.

While individual students are working hard to better themselves there are forces at work trying to properly direct these efforts. These forces, otherwise known as UNSJ’s faculty and staff, have done what I think is a phenomenal job making sure that a maximum effort on the part of the student turns into maximum rewards in terms for bursaries, co-op placements, full time job offers, acceptance to graduate school and so on. Although there have been struggles along the way, I think that it is UNBSJ’s willingness to change that will ensure its continued success in the future.

I remember one day when I was looking at the Co-op education bulletin board. I was analyzing the various employers that were offering work term positions. I started wondering why the university does not do something with its accounting courses since there are a lot of positions being offered in the accounting area. Within a few months the university established the accounting major in the Business Administration Program.

This is not the only example of UNBSJ’s willingness to change. The Electronic Commerce program was the university’s answer to a growing number of employers who are seeking employees with knowledge of the business aspects of the information highway.

I am quite certain that there are a number of employers amongst us today attending this graduation ceremony. These employers are facing a rapidly changing business environment and are demanding employees who are capable of functioning in this type of atmosphere. Well I am proud to say that UNBSJ has stepped up to the challenge through the continual revision of and addition to its courses and programs. As previously mentioned the underlying success factor is UNBSJ willingness to change.

My final and most important note is to the graduates of 1997. There have been a lot of challenges along the way but we have conquered them. Since success is not a destination, but rather a life long adventure, it can be said that we have come to the end of one of only many roads that we may take in the coming years. For some of us the road sign up ahead reads graduate school, for others it may read proving yourself in a working environment. Regardless of which road you choose I encourage you to take some time to enjoy your latest accomplishment. Congratulations and best of luck in the future.

Thank-You!!