Good Afternoon, Professors, Guests, Friends, Family and fellow graduates,

Thank you for being here to celebrate our accomplishment. It is unimaginably hard to do this and talk about our collective experiences.

Today we’ve all come together for the last time as a class and tomorrow we will enter a new life outside the classroom. It’s true that during our days in school we’ve been worked with several assignments, made busy as bees with presentations. But then we’ve had a pretty good time.

Many of us drank several cups of coffee sitting in the library cafeteria and exchanged views on different topics. After all when we enter the working world we will be working with all sorts of people from varying backgrounds and our experience here tell us that the world is full of wonderful people with different ideas and talents. Each one of us brings a situation with a different background and thus a unique point of view. These discrepancies can generate solutions to all kinds of problems.

We all took this course for different reasons. For some it was a stepping stone to further opportunities, to find a profession of choice, or to get a promotion with a current company. No matter why we chose this course, we all need to look around our teachers, mentors and friends here today, and then we realize what we’ve truly earned for two years here.

Most of our free time in the first year was consumed by this course as we worked on assignments, studied for quiz and worked on group presentations. On behalf of my fellow classmates we express sincere thanks to each of our family members and friends for your support and understanding as we pushed through this course.

I am sure there were some long nights, worrying about assignment deadlines, missed meals, and anxious moments. Yet, you succeeded.

I’m thankful to have had each and every one of you as my classmates and I have fond memories of the times we’ve had in class. I actually found myself missing it when we all were busy doing internships. I thought to myself, well when can I see everyone again? When can I go to the cafeteria to have those steamed buns, fried bread sticks, cakes, yoghurt? When can we again sit together and do presentations? Believe it or not some of you are excellent when it comes to speaking and presentations.

With every task Professors gave us I would always ask myself “what is he/she trying to teach us with this assignment?” Why is he/she making us think from different angles and asking us to keep looking for more interesting perspectives? Or why is he/she making us sit here in class and watch videos? Well, now we all know. Thank you for setting the bar high.

Personally, I think the personal growth we experienced throughout these years is the launching pad for many of us as we enter the next phase of our lives. I believe that academic studies in university create high levels of understanding which helps to overcome obstacles and struggles. The time spent in school has been riveting, interesting and rewarding.

We are lucky that we live in a world of immense possibility, dynamism and change. If we just look around there is always something interesting happening; somebody is always doing something fresh.

We are not running for a pageant or a contest where we want to be most popular. Instead we can run for the most respected. Head out to work every day as if you do not know anything and it is this side that encourages risk-taking and experience joy even in strange circumstances. As a newcomer try to make an effort and grab every opportunity, meet people with a new smile on your face, no matter how difficult your day was; do everything whatever is given to you by your mentors and colleagues. Before you make a promise, think about whether you will want to keep it and do it despite your circumstances change.

Igniting curiosity is very important. The world outside these walls is itself like an enterprise. Fresh blood comes in every year and if anyone is lagging behind, he or she will be thrown out without a second thought. That’s the most important challenge before us and it is one that we will all meet in our different ways.

Whatever we do and wherever we go we won’t forget today. Hopefully in years to come we will meet up with our school friends again. That is, of course something we have to organize so I am sure you will understand.

Congratulations. Good luck. Have a nice day.