Hundreds of students graduated from the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus on Saturday in a ceremony marked by the usual pomp and circumstance…but one where Artificial Intelligence was a theme heard throughout.
In fact, the theme for the graduation exercises was; ‘Pelicans in an AI-Driven Future – Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow. The tone of the ceremony was set by UWI Chancellor Dr. Dodridge Miller, who noted that the theme spoke to the unique position of the graduates.
“You are the bridge between legacy and innovation. You carry forward the values of our Caribbean heritage- community, creativity, and courage – whilst embracing the tools of tomorrow with discernment and purpose. Technology has redefined the landscape of opportunity. Today a young innovator from a fishing village in Antigua can compete on the same global stage as a coder in Silicon Valley, California,” he observed.
For Principal of the UWI FIC, Prof. Dr. C Justin Robinson, this year’s graduating class has an advantage that even their professors did not have at this point in their development.
“You are the most educated, most connected, most globally aware generation in Caribbean history. You have tools your professors could only dream of when they were students. You can collaborate with innovators worldwide, access markets globally, and create solutions that scale regionally faster than news travels through the church auxiliary,” he highlighted in his message to the graduates.
Prof. Robinson has several missions for the graduating class; among other things, he wants them to be job creators, to think bigger than their island-nation and as they succeed, make way for others to succeed also.
During the ceremony, the UWI FIC named Antigua and Barbuda scholar, Dr. Paget Henry as the 2025 Honorary Graduand. Dr. Henry is Professor Emeritus at Brown University in the United States and has distinguished himself as a leading academic advancing Caribbean thought and fostering academic spaces for the study of African and Caribbean philosophy.
His speech to the graduating class, which was being delivered remotely, was unfortunately discontinued by the university as a restive graduating class began to indicate that he had been speaking for too long.
A number of persons of note graduated at Saturday’s ceremony. Among them was Shabo Nedwell, who was mauled by a dog just one week earlier and who appeared in a wheel chair. She earned a Bachelor of Science from the School of Business and Management. Senator Lamin Newton, part of the team on the Browne and Browne show on Point FM also graduated on Saturday.
The Governor General’s Deputy, Sir Clare Roberts, Prime Minister Gaston Browne, and Work Minister, Maria Browne and Education Minister Daryll Matthew were among the special guests attending the ceremony.
