‘Beating the Odds’ – UG graduands detail journey to academic glory amidst adversities

Jan 30, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – Close to 2,600 graduands of the University of Guyana (UG) will walk the virtual graduation stage in a series of ceremonies beginning February 4, 2022. However, they each have a unique and inspiring story of how they were able to beat the odds in their journey to academic glory.

As part of our ongoing series of student success stories, we feature below some of the graduands who have overcome various obstacles, including losing a loved one, dealing with financial hardships, health complications, and domestic abuse while they were pursuing tertiary education.
For 38-year-old Tandy Tappin, it was facing an abusive relationship and losing not one, but two, of the closest persons in her life, all while completing her Bachelor’s and Post Graduate Diploma at UG.
According to Tappin, she faced constant abuse at the hands of her partner following her decision to pursue further studies.
The veteran educator explained, “A course that was supposed to last only four years ended up taking almost eight years for me to complete. I wanted to stay in the relationship for my son because at the time, he was preparing to write the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and I didn’t want my absence to cause him to do poorly.”
“I stayed, my son got President’s College and I was happy for him, but then we were in a car accident and he died and I didn’t get to mourn as I wanted to. I resumed classes at UG and I thought I could have made it but I was overwhelmed and I had to take a break. So, I ended up taking two years leave from UG.”

However, just as Tappin was regaining her strength, tragedy struck again with the sudden death of her mom. With tears in her eyes, she recounted, “That was my breaking point, because she passed away exactly two weeks before the death anniversary of my son. So, my mom’s death helped me to come to grips with what’s happening and that I don’t have to pin it all up but I can let it all out. It was at that point, I recognised that life has to go on and I have to live for my other child, my daughter who is now 12 years old. I told myself I have to be strong for her and be that positive role model for her, despite all of the challenges.”
Tappin who has been in the teaching profession for approximately 20 years echoed sentiments of appreciation and love to UG and her colleagues for showering her with compassion and support.
“I thought I needed some help in getting myself together. UG provided support by providing a counsellor to help me along the process until I was mentally strong again… That gave me the drive to complete and that helped me know that it’s ok to do what I had to do in order to make myself better. I would really, really like to thank the University for providing such services for students like me and others who may be going through other issues in life,” Tappin expressed.

Twenty-year-old Leah Cummings is set to graduate with an Associate Degree in Biology come February 12, 2022. As Cummings reflected on the journey of attending the University, she expressed, “It was rough at the beginning because no one from my family actually came here so I had no help at all but it got better at the end.”
Leah added that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in her family facing severe financial hardships as her parents became unemployed, “I had tremendous financial challenges because my mom and dad were both out of a job due to the pandemic. It had put a strain on me and I wanted to drop out as I asked myself who would pay my tuition fees.”
Leah expressed that luckily she was able to secure a scholarship from the church, which helped to take care of her tuition fees.
The aspiring Chemist is employed currently as a lab technician at Demerara Distilled Limited (DDL) and is hoping to return to the University soon to further her studies.

Gerard Budhan is the eldest of three siblings and is the first in his family to graduate from UG with an Associate Degree in Information Technology (Distinction).
Like many other graduands, Budhan faced many challenges in his quest to pursue further studies. “It was challenging because it took me about five years to come to UG after leaving high school and this was mainly due to financial reasons. I had to work within those five years before I got that opportunity and the timing was right to start the University. I had to try catching up with everyone else who were fresh out of high school and also I was working while coming to the University. Sometimes, I was not getting any time off and those were very difficult days, I had many days when I was lacking sleep. It was difficult sometimes to complete the assignments and not feel sleepy in class,” he explained.Budhan expressed that he had to make up for the lost time at work. “In order to overcome the challenges at work, I had to work extra hours on the job in order to make up for the time lost.”
In terms of the impact UG has had on his life, Budhan highlighted, “UG has allowed me to have a different outlook in life. I am more confident and able to express myself better. When I started UG, it was an encouragement to my younger siblings. They literally started UG the year after I started. They had doubts and all these things before but seeing me in this position, I was able to inspire them.”
Marinella Glasgow, an aspiring oncologist is graduating with an Associate Degree in Biology (Distinction).

Glasgow, who hails from Victoria on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), detailed that during the course of her studies, she became ill, “When UG started online, I got really sick because I couldn’t manage it anymore and I found it very difficult that particular semester in the second year. I got some really hard hits, I got some difficult grades, I got some Cs but I worked hard to pull it back and I am here today and now I am graduating with a distinction.”
She added that another challenge was juggling work and studies. “The journey started quite comfortably since I had a background in CAPE; however, it became very hard when I started to work. Sometimes, I would have to come to a class in the morning and leave right after class and then come back for class again and then go back to work; it was hectic.”
In offering words of encouragement to other students, she said, “I want to encourage students to be patient with themselves. When we come to University, we meet with so many people from so many different backgrounds. And when we measure ourselves, sometimes we think we aren’t good enough, but the fact that you are here means that you are good enough and the fact that you start, you can end, and you will end.”

Thirty-two-year-old Riaz Rupnarin will be graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations. Like his colleagues, the Pomeroon resident was faced with many challenges, including losing one of his parents while he was attending university, but he was determined to persevere.

He explained, “Financial constraints coming from a poor background, my father passed away, my mother is a pensioner, my brother is disabled, and my sister is a single-parent mother, so not having that financial backing was very hard. I had to basically support myself through the four years of studies. So, sometimes it was quite hard, because I had to miss certain experiences due to finance; for example, as International Relations students, in our first two years, we had trips overseas with our lecturers but I had to miss them because of finance and other reasons.”
“The four years have been quite a trial and more so with the addition of the pandemic in the latter part of our studies. We know International Relations is a bit more physical and it was very hard to get that kind of experience while doing it online,” Rupnarin added.

Twenty-three-year-old Stefan Bowman of Mocha, East Bank of Demerara (EBD) will be graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics on February 11, 2022.
Similarly, Bowman also has a unique story of beating the odds to reach the stage of graduation. He detailed that he had to deal with the loss of his mother in the final semester of his third year; this he noted was the most difficult period in his life.On the day he came to the Turkeyen Campus to take his official graduation portrait, Bowman wore a pin with the photograph of his mother whom he recalled was always very supportive and would have been extremely proud to see him becoming a graduate of UG as this was her desire.

“Losing my mom while studying was really rough. Even when my mom was very sick, she kept asking me about classes and exams so I knew I had to push through for her…I dedicate my degree to my mom; she would have been very proud,” he said as he was overcome with emotions.
When asked how he was able to cope with the loss while studying, he related that the University, his peers and his father were all incredibly helpful. “My colleagues kept pushing me through. They helped me out with a lot of assignments and they made sure that I got whatever I needed and if I missed anything, they made sure they kept checking in on me. My dad also helped me along the way, he provided the financial assistance I needed because I am not working but now that I have graduated, I will be looking for a good job.”
A record number of attendees are expected this year since due to the online nature of the event, there will be no limit to the number of invitees who can join the proceedings.
Members of the public are invited to view this year’s ceremonies on the University of Guyana’s Facebook page @uniofguyana (University of Guyana).

 

 

 

 

 

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