Business View Caribbean | June 2019

7 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN JUNE 2019 OPENING L INES O n Saturday, May 11, 2019, at the Heritage Assembly of God in Wichita Falls Texas, USA, 38 newly minted graduates from the Caribbean region gathered to celebrate with family, friends, and supporters at the 2019 Caribbean student organization graduation ceremony and awards dinner. Graduates hailed from the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, and Barbados. Karla Henry and Timon Thomas chaired the program. Raysheca Hanna delivered the opening prayer. Darien Roach delivered the President’s welcome. Midwestern State University’s (MSU) Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Matthew Parks, addressed the body and spoke on the richness that the Caribbean student organization brought to MSU and the Wichita Falls Texas community. Director of International Services at MSU and the founder of the Caribbean Student Recruitment Program Initiative at the University, Dr. Randy Glean, introduced the keynote speaker, Dr. Mutryce A. Williams, a native of St. Kitts and Nevis and a 2001 graduate of the program. Dr. Williams encouraged the graduates to keep learning, believe in the possibility of their dreams and to pay it forward. The main attraction of the evening was the moving speeches delivered by each graduate. Graduates recognized family, friends, and support systems who helped them to achieve their goals. Brian Blair delivered the valedictory address. Mendelsen Seaman did the vote of thanks. There was also a performance by current students, musical trio, the Preville Sisters, whose mother is a graduate of the program. Graduates earned degrees in mental health, mechanical engineering, social work, respiratory care, accounting, finance, management information systems, graphic design, educational leadership, exercise physiology, computer science, psychology, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. According to the Caribbean student organization’s website, in the spring of 1993, Glean officially launched the Caribbean recruitment program. Dr. Jesse Rogers created a platform which allowed him to recruit more students after the experimental admission of four students from Grenada. In the summer of 1993, visits to Antigua, Dominica, St. CARIBBEAN STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM U.S. UNIVERSITY