Posted on: Mon 10-06-2019

A Valedictory Speech Presented by Miss Nwokanma Mildred at the 2^nd Induction Ceremony of Newly Qualified Nurse on Friday 7^th June 2019.

The Vice Chancellor Sir,

Principal Officers of the University,

The Provost College of Health Science,

Dean of Faculties,

Professors,

The Medical Elders,

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Gentlemen of Press,

Fellow Graduating Students.

Today is a special day, one that we all ought to be thankful and express immense gratitude for.  I am greatly howled and privileged to stand before you to present this farewell speech as the best graduating student of the nursing department, 2017/2018 session of this great institution, unique uniport.

This speech is prepared to achieve two main purposes. First, to express our collective appreciation and thankfulness, and second, to encourage us towards greater heights.

This journey started five years ago in 2013 and ended successfully in November 2018 when we wrote our final qualifying exams. It has been a worthwhile journey and experience for us all in university of Port Harcourt. This journey has been a mixture of good times, bad times and sad times. We all started this journey together and as much as we desired to finish it together not all of us are present and celebrating here today. However, we are thankful to God who made today a reality for us and trust HIM who understands and has a perfect reason for all that happens.

We all have much to be thankful for, Here in this unique University of Port Harcourt we have received superb education and today, we express are profound gratitude to the school administration and our lecturers who have tirelessly and immediately expended their time and energy to impact this great deal of knowledge in us to make us what we are today. Professional nurses.

Your diligence and dedication towards grooming and training us has prepared us for what lies ahead and as a result, we are fully equipped and ready to take  on whenever challenge that comes next in our lives.

Among my inspirations are my Head of Department Dr. Faith Diorgu. That first day you entered my class in 200 level and introduced yourself with all the numerous qualifications you can never imagine how much of an inspiration and motivation I got that day. My supervisor Dr. Robbinson Bassey, my amiable, inestimable, diligent and amicable lecturers of the department who pushed and spurred us to put and give in our best, offering us every opportunity to become the best we can, my warmest gratitude to you all.

To all administrative staff of this great faculty and department, your efforts cannot be underestimated.

Special thanks goes to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Morrison Nwokanma and to all other parents and guardians present here today. To all our friends and families, these past five years would not have been possible without your enormous support, assistance and encouragement.

To my coursemates, these five years with you all couldn't have been better. The time we read together, prayed and played together as memories I will hold dear for a long time. I won’t forget the periods before our qualifying exams how scared and uncertain we were and how this fear spurred us to burn our midnight candles amidst the cold nights sacrificing comfort and every other thing in pursuit for success and today, with glad and smiling faces, we gather to celebrate our success.

As we disperse today, I will leave us all with these final words. Let us not forget the efforts of our teachers and parents in bringing us up to this level of academic experience. Let us not also relent or relax because the journey is not over yet. We have been launched into an open space with different opportunities let us diligently seek greater heights bearing in mind the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept were toiling upward in the night." The future has opened up before us like a new book, waiting for us to commit into its pages, the story we only can write. We are diadems, we are no ordinary people and as such we cannot live less than we profess to be.

To our juniors, we have left a landmark, we have made mistakes and we have achieved successes too. I implore you to improve on our successes, do greater than we did and learn from our mistakes to avoid repeating them. Together within or without the walls of this great and noble department we will keep the lamp burning and the flag flying as good ambassadors of our beloved almamater.

Happy induction DIADEMS.

---

---