It is not every day teenagers are asked to critically consider complex global issues such as the challenges surrounding food, water and energy resources.But that is exactly what Dr Renique Murray asked the 2013 graduates of NorthGate College to do as he deliverered the keynote address at the school's Awards Ceremony at The University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine Campus last month.
Citing a quote from UK Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Sir John Beddington, Dr Murray stated that global society we have challenging situations ahead and difficult decisions will have to be made:"The successful navigation of future terrain demands a certain construct of human to emerge."
Murray, lecturer in the UWI Faculty of Engineering, described NorthGate College is committed to nurturing and developing leaders and charged the graduates to see themselves as the future shapers and influencers of society.His closing words were, "You are the solution to our future."While Murray focused on the global environment, the director of the College, Yolande La Pierre, reflected on the school's commitment to a dynamic student life.
La Pierre reconstructed the major happenings of the past year (2012-2013) for the audience of partners, parents, friends of the college and the graduates, giving special mention to achievement in extra-curricular activities such as in the Secondary School Football League, national competitions such as the AMCHAM Youth Productivity Forum and their victory in the RBC Young Leaders Debate.
La Pierre also underscored that though they celebrate when students do well, "It is not the award nor the public accolades that excite us, it is the promise, possibility and hope that our young people represent when they choose to do things the right way."
Valedictorian Oriel Bailey of the Upper Sixth Form class captured the jubilant yet contemplative mood among his fellow graduates. Bailey noted that the NorthGate College environment "exerted steady, increasing and unyielding pressure, the pressure necessary to compact our core and make us strong, stable, unbreakable."
Bailey also took home a manifold of academic prizes at the sixth-form level. Ogechi Akpaka featured prominently in the award of fifth-form academic prizes. Form six students Sadie Sheppard and Astral Edwards claimed The Cecile Taylor Community Enhancement Award and the Business Award respectively, while Esther Louison won the NorthGate College Award and Joel Johnson the Sport Award and the esteemed Chairman's Award.