BHP president advises SAGHS grads to do STEM studies

More than 100 St Augustine Girls’ High School (SAGHS) graduates were on Thursday encouraged to enter the field of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects by Vincent Pereira, president of BHP Billiton TT.

Pereira told them the world is in need of women in this field, in his address at their graduation ceremony at the school on Evans Street, Curepe,

“I think you have terrific opportunities ahead of you and I think you all need to realise that you can just be leaders by what you commit yourselves to.

“You are amazing young ladies and I think the world and TT is going to benefit from you and your leadership in the future,” he said.

Pereira told the CAPE and CSEC graduates they should thank and cherish those who have paved the way for them and contributed to their success.

He said while they may have invested in their education, others have invested a tremendous amount in them to be successful.

“You have done yourself proud, you have done your parents and teachers proud and that’s a great but you should know that the reason you are here today is because others prepared the way for you.

“You are here on their shoulders. There would be others who are going to be following you and their expectations are that they are going to stand on your shoulders some point in the future.”

He encouraged them not to rush to figure out what they want to do with their lives, to take their time to discover what they love doing, seek advice and listen to others.

"Don’t always let the noise sometimes of others opinion move you from things that you know best. This is what happens when you listen to your own heart, your own intuition, listen to your heart.”

While taking the class of 2018/2019 down memory lane, valedictorian Lennise Sealy said despite the many challenges they endured, they have been successful.

“As we moved further into this intricate labyrinth, we realised our challenges became bigger and more overwhelmed. We became faced with academic trials like choosing subjects, doing labs, writing SBAs, meeting deadlines and managing our time.

“These were accompanied by social obstacles like maintaining friendships, staying clear of drama, trying to participate in every house and school activity.”

Sealy thanked God, teachers, parents and friends for helping and giving them the strength to keep going every day and for helping them arrive at their destination.

“Our friends were our shoulders to cry on, the people who made us laugh when we became frustrated because the path became unclear and the people who believed in us when we did not even believe in ourselves.

“Our friends have indeed played a major role, our friends who have turned into our sisters and with all of this, we give thanks to God, who placed these people in our lives, to keep us going.”

This year, 100 per cent of SAGHS’s students who wrote CSEC exams and 99 per cent of the students sat CAPE achieved full certificates.

In CSEC, the students brought home 756 ones, 104 twos and 12 threes, while CAPE students got 604 ones, 145 twos and 51 threes.