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Regent College London Graduation Ceremony speech (2021)

It gives me a huge honour and great pleasure to address this virtual graduation ceremony, held in extraordinary circumstances due to Covid-19 pandemic, nevertheless marking a major transitional and significant moment in your life. 

This pandemic and all the restrictive measures can never stop you to celebrate all the hard work you and your teachers put into your education through these years and you did make it! Through the years of school, you’ve made new friends, developed new skills, and discovered new things about yourself. 

You have graduated during a global crisis. That’s an amazing achievement! That’s more than a learning experience. It’s a growing experience about the most important lesson of all, – Every obstacle is an opportunity to learn, to grow, and to change.

Dear graduates,

I am giving this speech, not only as Chairman of Regent Group, but as a lifelong student! I am one of you! I am still learning new things, visiting whenever possible auditoriums and libraries and I feel so sorry that across the world, Covid-19 has forced more than one billion students to stay out of school auditoriums, labs, libraries, clubs, etc. And I feel so sorry that you have missed the vibes of a traditional graduation ceremony!

However, this virtual graduation ceremony is like no other, and you are a graduating class like no other. Your teachers are proud of you and hope that the skills that they have taught you and the knowledge that we have shared with you, will boost your confidence to face the future unafraid of its challenges.

Omnia mea mecum porto! said Cicero, meaning” All that is mine I carry with me.”  Be prepared, you can always lose things in your life, but never the knowledge you have put in your minds. Knowledge is what you need to live without fear and always in hope.

As you graduate and a new chapter of your life is about to begin, it’s normal to have many questions. As Bill and Melinda Gates say “you may need to put on hold the bigger questions about your role in improving the world.

But there is no question that you have a role to play, whether that’s now or in the future. You inherit a world that has already proven that progress is possible— a world that has rebuilt after war, vanquished smallpox, fed a growing population, and enabled more than a billion people to climb out of extreme poverty.

That progress didn’t happen by accident or fate. It was the result of people just like you who made a commitment that whatever else they did with their lives and careers, they would contribute to this shared mission of propelling us all forward”. 

Class of 2020

you are like a shining diamond, that mother nature has created using a widely available chemical element, carbon, by means of pressurising it during a prolonged time. That is what Dr Selva Pankaj and the excellent teaching team of Regent Group has made into you!

As Steve Jobs said back in 2005- “the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

A brighter future is waiting for you to discover. Be brave, be bold, embrace it, conquer it! Because you can! Nothing can stop you! Remember to tell your children, to inspire and motivate them to achieve things appearing to be impossibile, by  bringing forward the fact that you did graduate during the difficult year of 2020!

This is your moment to use your skills, your knowledge and your passion to shape the Post covid-19 world! Follow your dreams. The world is yours now and I can’t wait to see what you make of it. 

And always remember, in this journey you are not alone. God will show you the true path to follow. I would like to conclude by quoting Timothy:  Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith and your purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)

God bless you all!

Thank you.