Monrovia — Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee, serving as commencement speaker of the 7th commencement convocation of the BlueCrest University College (BUC) over the weekend, called on members of the graduating class to be "humbled and hardworking" in their quest to achieve excellence.
Addressing the graduates, Madam Gbowee said: "To you our graduates, I urge you all to cultivate the attitude of humility and hard work in order to live a fulfilled and successful life. Hard work is missing in this generation and anything that comes so easy is not worth fighting for."
Speaking on the topic: "A Disrupted Dream Is Not a Dead Dream," the 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate told the graduates, and those in the audience to disregard the past, take action in the present, and be held back or fazed by uncertainty about what the future holds.
She told the graduates about her own life, saying: "A little over two decades ago, I was broke, virtually homeless, and a single mother of four children with no outlook on my future. My dream of becoming a medical doctor was shattered by the outbreak of the 1989 civil war which never broke me, and despite the numerous challenges that life had thrown at me the proceeding years, I haven't been swayed away from becoming a better person," Gbowee told the graduates.
She also admonished them to cultivate the attitude of volunteerism, which helps build the spirit of service to humanity and also serve as a source of acquiring new knowledge and skills that could be very useful in the future.
Since her global recognition about 12 years ago, she has graced the world stage, mentored hundreds of young women, crossed many borders, and given countless lectures and speeches.
But the greatest joy throughout this journey, she said, has undoubtedly been the opportunity to help young people achieve their dreams by supporting them through their educational journeys.
Established in 2014, BlueCrest has contributed to advanced higher education and has been complimented, recognized, and approved by very important people and by those offices of governance where merit and quality stand tall.
The president of the college, Dr. Umesh Neelakantan, for his part, said his institution has brought radical thoughts for more than three thousand learners to date through the opportunities created dominantly via information technology.
"Since its establishment, BlueCrest has imparted a mindset of progress among learners through different portfolios in Information technology," Neelakantan said.
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The college has evolved into advanced status learning portfolios like Cloud computing, Cyber security, advanced Software programming, advanced Networking platform, Health Analytics, Data Science, Machine Learning and Deep learning technologies, big data analytics, and many more.
"There will be no more constrained or secluded status for younger generations to think "what to study, where to study" etc. Because opportunities are immense," the president told the audience at the ceremony.
The school's Graduate studies program has also kicked off as the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) has accredited BlueCrest to offer Master's in Information Technology.
The college is also in the process of developing many inspiring learning portfolios and also widening the scope into Folk Arts, Handicrafts, Sports, Agriculture, and others.
"We are also in the process of collaborating with global MNCs and highly reputed Universities across the world for advanced and value-added programs," Neelakantan said.
Meanwhile, BlueCrest has additionally established wings in research, projects, consultancy, corporate and training, among others.
The college has three different levels - Graduate Studies (offering undergraduate and graduate programs), Open labs (Diploma in IT), and Fashion and Design (Fashion programs) and they all run different established learning portfolios with the backup of powerful intellectual capital.
The Corporate training wing in BlueCrest is closely associated with ministries, NGOs, and private organizations for conducting various capacity-building training programs.
