President of Dominica State College, Dr. Donald C. Peters, gave a simple message to the students who were graduating from the institution. He said that they are responsible to create a better Dominica.
“As you reflect on your new status as a college graduate, I want you to think of yourself as an agent of change…A graduate who is going to take Dominica to the developed status…I want you to be the professionals who will work to make Dominica great and not be dependent on anyone for what they can give you… You are graduating at a time when our country is in need of professionals with new ideas and energy to run our Agriculture and Tourist industries; when there are tremendous opportunities for planners, builders, contractors, supply chain managers, plumbers, hotel professionals, and farmers to supply the many new hotels with products. The opportunities are endless and require you who have just graduated to be creative and innovative.” He warned the students that despite what others think, no success can be achieved without work.
He said that there are more foreign companies working and building for Dominica and while nothing is wrong with that there are lessons for the students to learn from that. The lesson is that there are opportunities to work and acquire, to find a job or even create their own jobs. He told the students that some of them can get together and form a building renovation company or even a soft drink company. Peters said that Dominica doesn’t just need buildings to be resilient but even more than that, Dominica is in need of people who will make her resilient.
He said that persons cannot expect to refuse jobs and claim that there is no work or stay home and raise a family without a job or have the idea that Government must take care of all aspects of their lives from cradle to grave or expect to receive everything for free. “That dependency syndrome,” he said, ” is contrary to the principles of economics, commerce, and development”. Therefore he charged the students to use what they have learned to create work and even to educate the general public.”We have given you two years of higher education, use that education to work for a future for you and your family.”
Dr. Peters says that they live at a time when there are more young people working, the government has resources to take care of elderly, and provide funds to support college education for every household in the country. However, the workforce is in dire need of young minds, society is looking for new solutions to old problems. Further, he said that he needs the graduates to guide our people to stop talking about things which they have no experience and knowledge.
He said that we talk about opening businesses without a national plan to increase population; about upgrading Agriculture when farmers are unable to meet market demands for pepper, coffee, cocoa and other crops that we grow in the region, much less for the global market. He said that we should stop talking about international airport when 51 % of our visitors come from Martinique and Guadeloupe and about spending millions of dollars on voter ID cards that we will use every five years.
Peters encouraged the students to move the country forward with education and work; to make a difference by utilizing the skills learned at the DSC. Dr. Peters made these comments while delivering his speech at the 17th graduation ceremony of the DSC on Tuesday, July 9 at the Windsor Park Stadium.
