Good afternoon….
We have gathered here to celebrate our graduation and congratulations to all the graduates who are here today. I am very honoured to have been invited by SIPMM to share my learning experiences with everyone.
I remember when I first graduated with my Diploma, I had absolutely no clue as to what I wanted to do. There was the idea to continue my studies but there were so many different degree courses out there and I did not want to jump into any degree that was not going to be of my interest and not be of any help in my future career. So I went ahead to get a job and eventually landed myself as a buyer in a manufacturing sector.
For the five years there, I realised I was getting way too comfortable for my own good. Have you ever thought of not wanting to move out of your comfort zone? You are so comfortable with your job, the lifestyle and environment you are in that anything new or that will disrupt this zone will cause you to turn back and run away? I nearly did because I did not want additional burden but I came to realise that with the increasing competitiveness in our economy, it has become a necessity for one to be continuously upgraded in order to have a competitive edge in the workforce. Took a leap of faith, I enrolled with SIPMM and here I am, grateful that I did not turn my back. This BBA course offered by Southern Cross University was the perfect fit to what I am interested in and which I can relate to. Thanks to Southern Cross University and SIPMM for offering such a great, value-added degree.
I quote Napoleon Hill who said that “Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness”. Studying a part-time degree course is never easy. I believe all the graduates here would wholeheartedly agree with me. Most of us here have work and family commitments and the sacrifices made to take up this course cannot be described by words alone.
Juggling assignments and examinations together with work can take a toll on us. In addition, some of you are parents with children demanding attention and time. We had to make sacrifices. Sacrifices such as time taken away from spending with our family and loved ones. The cancelled dates, postponed holidays and sacrifices like lack of sleep. I bet many of you still remember going to work and being so drained out from energy after a night of rushing an assignment. Sacrifices like not being able to do the things you used to do and love to do. Of course, how can we leave out the huge sacrifice of parting with our year-end bonuses to pay for the course fee? That was quite a big sacrifice and the list goes on. But don’t you all agree with me that it’s all worth it? We earned our degree and made our loved ones proud today.
Let us not forget the sacrifices that our lecturers and tutors had made. They too had sacrificed their time to give us lessons and share their experiences. Thanks to Professor Lau, Mr Kay and Mr Siew for your interesting and engaging lessons. Many times you would give examples of real case scenarios into what we are reading and this really allowed us to relate to the books and not just plain reading and memorising what we had to learn. Thanks to Mr Fu, Mr Chua and Mr Chan, you all had one of the most challenging classes and you mould us to perfect our work and strive for better grades. I still remember there was one lesson when Mr Chua actually brought his Ukulele and played it in front of class to emphasise to us the fact that “practice makes perfect”. If he could perfect his Ukulele playing skills, why can’t we perfect our writing skills? I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to all the lecturers who had taught us, thank you so much.
To my classmates, you are a wonderful bunch. All of you come from different backgrounds. It makes learning so much more interesting when you are hearing different perspectives from different people. From sharing notes to sharing reading materials to answering doubts, we stood by one and encouraged another for 20 months. Thank you so much.
I would also like to thank my parents. If not for their belief of the importance of an education, I probably wouldn’t even be here. Dad and Mum, you are always there supporting me, making sure I could concentrate on my studies. It’s the little actions like fetching me back home from classes to heating up my meal when I reach home, that I told myself I have to go all out and show you what I can achieve. I hope I have done you proud.
Lastly, thank you everyone for your time and good luck to all graduates. I wish everyone success in your future life path.
