President and other members of the Board of Regents,

Outstanding Graduate of INTEC, Marcos Diaz Domínguez, 

Vice-rectors, Deans and other members of the Academic Council,

Managers, coordinators, teachers and collaborators all,

Special guests,

Representatives of universities and other HEIs,

Members of the media,

Dear graduating students and their families,

All friends, good morning:

Last year we rejoiced celebrating the first 50 years of INTEC and in the midst of those festivities we received the pleasant news that we had entered the world ranking prepared by the British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) that covers the 1400 best universities in the world and that we had made it in first place in the Dominican Republic.

Always looking to the future, we assume this year as the first of the next 50 years of INTEC, and - also to rejoice - we received the news that we are repeating in the world ranking of QS as the best positioned Dominican university, and also We were certified as one of the 5 best universities in the Caribbean.

Today we delivered 865 graduates: 50% undergraduate and 50% at the postgraduate level, and of all of them 60% women. 

We continue to lead the Dominican higher education system with innovative programs and, in many cases, unique in the country. Thus, today the first graduates of two new degree programs are invested, 11 in accounting and financial analytics and 14 in marketing and digital business. And at the master's level, today we have the first 29 master's degrees in data science, which join those of other innovative and unique programs in the country such as engineering in logistics, energy, biomedical, cybersecurity, biotechnology and in statistics and actuarial sciences. And we are also proud to continue graduating at the highest level of studies, having today two new doctors in energy management for sustainable development.

Looking to the future, INTEC reaffirms its commitment to the relentless pursuit of academic excellence, proposing in our new Institutional Strategy to continue developing as an innovative and differentiated institution.

As a banner of this promotion in its merits of academic excellence, allow me to mention the graduating students with the best academic indexes, whom I request to please stand up when mentioned. They are:

1. Camila De Peña - Economy, Economics and Business Area 4,00, - Seraphim of Assisi School, National District
2. Marqui Ramos (h) – Biotechnology, Area of ​​Basic and Environmental Sciences - 99, Col. Our Lady of Altagracia, Higüey
3. Mariel Canela (h) -Psychology, Area of ​​Social Sciences and Humanities – 99,-Babeque School, National District.
4. Joseimy Mateo (v) - Mat. Secondary Education, Area of ​​Social Sciences and Humanities – 99, -Christian Educational Center for Education for Development, San Juan de la Maguana
5. Porfirio Rodríguez (v) – Software Engineering – Engineering Area 95 - Maranatha School of Doña Gladys, in San Isidro, SDE
6. Melissa Bello (h) - Medicine, Health Sciences Area -72-School. Dominican de la Salle, National District

For them I ask all of us to acknowledge them with a round of applause.

As we see, INTEC is, indeed, diverse and plural. We attract talent from all over the country, we have students from all provinces. In fact, 22% of our current students come from provinces other than the National District and Santo Domingo.

Let's look at the demonstration at this graduation ceremony, in which more than 30% come from outside the greater Santo Domingo.

East: 48 La Altagracia, Hato Mayor, El Seibo, La Romana, San Pedro de Macorís, Monte Plata

Western Cibao: 63 Dajabón, Montecristi, Valverde, Santiago Rodríguez, Puerto Plata, Santiago, Espaillat, Hermanas Mirabal, La Vega, Monsignor Nouel

Eastern Cibao: 32 San Francisco de Macorís, Sanchez Ramírez, María Trinidad Sanchez, Samaná

South Central: 46 San Cristóbal, Azua, Peravia, San José de Ocoa

South Western: 125 San Juan, Elías Piña, Barahona, Bahoruco, Independencia and Pedernales. 

Our diversity expands beyond our border. Allow me to mention and greet our graduates of different nationalities: 11 from the United States, 9 from Venezuela, 4 from Puerto Rico, 2 from Colombia, 2 from Cuba, 2 from Haiti, 2 from Mexico, 2 from Peru, 1 from Spain, 1 from Curacao, 1 from Honduras, 1 from India and 1 from Switzerland, for a total of 39.

Thus, with a single campus, in Santo Domingo, INTEC is a magnet that attracts talented and hardworking young people from all corners of the country and other parts of the world. INTEC is thus established as a privileged space for quality training and research, cultivating professional skills, human values ​​and social commitment and promoting creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation.

INTEC students and graduates stand out for their academic merits, but also for their human and citizen values. As a simple example, let me illustrate the above with some examples of our current graduates, who also have outstanding academic indexes, all greater than 3.6.

I have the case of Ramón Antonio Crousset, who is graduating today in Biomedical Engineering. For years, Ramón has overcome the long journey from Invivienda, in Santo Domingo Este, to INTEC, and has been an active promoter of participation in student committees and in the production of promotional videos; In addition, it has been working on innovative projects, such as a vital signs monitor, with 4 parameters (oxygen saturation, heart rate, temperature and blood pressure) with the ability to detect risk trends using artificial intelligence, which is why last Monday I put him in touch with the dean of research to further support that project. 

I also talk to you about Doris Angélica Antoine, today graduating Summa Cum Laude in Business Administration, vice president of her career Committee, who had an outstanding participation in the Student Fairs held in 2023 by the University Life Unit. Likewise, she has stood out as host of several of our leadership audiovisual programs and also collaborates with the Protocol and Events Directorate in institutional activities. Doris Angélica graduates today along with one of her three sisters, because her oldest is already a graduate (and we are recruiting the youngest of hers).

Liz Andrea Alvarado also graduates today, in International Business, PIES, a prominent performer in our Dance Group, who has had a very proactive participation in VOLUNTEC, INTEC's volunteer organization for many social services, in which she not only stood out as a mentor to other students, but as an organizer, having written, together with another colleague, the first draft of the VOLUNTEC statutes.

And we have the case of Matthews Rosario Espinal, graduating today in Mechatronic Engineering. He was the pilot of the vehicle rover that allowed the Dominican Republic and INTEC to obtain first place in the 2020 NASA world competition as a member of the Apollo 27 group, in which he later continued as a mentor, but in his vocation of social service he also graduated as a firefighter, Today, he is one of the volunteer members of that important service corps who, risking his life, recently assisted those affected by the serious incidents that took place there in San Cristóbal.

For them I also ask for a loud applause.

Let me now introduce Marcos Aurelio Diaz Domínguez whom we proudly welcomed as a guest speaker at this graduation ceremony.

Marcos is an Outstanding Graduate recognized in the 2010 edition of this intecian award. He finished his Business Administration studies in 1996 and continued at INTEC until finishing his Master's Degree in Marketing in 1998.

Although Marcos does not dismiss professional practice, he is best known for his daring participation in the Nado de los Continentes, between 2009 and 2010, when he joined five continents, in promoting compliance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of the United Nations.

Thus, we learned of his swim Oceania  but also Asiaat Papua New Guinea  but also  Indonesia (look at it on Google Maps), then from Jordan  until you reach Egypt, and then join Africa with Europe crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, which must have been much warmer than his next stage, when he linked Europe with America when swimming the subpolar Bering strait, between Siberia and Alaska, and then officially finish his project by swimming from the Statue of Liberty, Through the East River in front of the building United Nations in Manhattan, finally arriving at Long Island, where he presented the UN Secretary General with a book with more than 200.000 signatures from the people he met throughout his trip.

In order to undertake this and other feats, Marcos prepared himself with long training, so to speak. As if to exemplify the postulate of Malcolm Gladwell, who in his best-seller  outliers, stated that to be truly an expert in something it is necessary to invest 10 thousand hours in its study or practice (listen carefully, 10 hours a week for 20 years, or 20 hours a week for 10 years), starting in swimming at a very early age, with only 6 years old. I don't know if in a few minutes, when he is with you on this podium, he will tell about the magnificent respiratory system that inspired him (and I think also the prestigious pediatrician who is his father) to dedicate himself so early to this demanding exercise and sport. What is swimming.

There are many other aquatic adventures to tell, but I prefer to remember that when he was Vice Minister of Sports he gave a wonderful boost to interuniversity sports competitions, giving them levels of participation, enthusiasm and brilliance that they had never had before.

For his successful sports career and his human values, he has been awarded multiple recognitions: Duarte, Sánchez y Mella Order of Merit, by the Dominican government, in 2007; decorated as UN Goodwill Ambassador in 2011, inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2012, in 2015 he was President of the American Sports Council; In 2019 he was elected President of the UNESCO International Convention Against Doping in Sport, a position in which he was re-elected and which he currently holds. (He is a university professor, business consultant for foreign investments and an eloquent motivational speaker.

I want to leave you soon with who is today the representative in our country of Origin by Ocean (Marcos, there had to be an ocean there), the Finnish seaweed refining company that exports sargassum from Punta Cana to its bioprocessing plant in Finland, to convert it there into raw material for the cosmetics industry and the food industry. Now This graduate visits us at INTEC so that our laboratories can analyze sargassum samples that the company then takes to Finland to process it and convert it into high value-added products.

Before passing the word to this swimming athlete, marketer, citizen of high values ​​from public service or business activity, twice graduated from our INTEC and Outstanding Graduate in the 2010 awards, let me finally string together some final ideas.

The first is to invite you to recognize that until now you have accumulated many of the 10 thousand hours necessary to reach the level of experts. In their approximately 180 weeks at INTEC they have accumulated around 6 thousand hours, including many weeks 5 and weeks 9. Do your calculations and see how many are missing for 10 thousand. Do not lose heart, you have successfully completed a great distance, but the path continues.

Start your new paths with the Intecian seal, building a dignified and promising future for you and yours, but always accompanying your competent and innovative professional performance with a responsible, ethical and high-minded citizen exercise, which can also include your contributions in service. social. The country needs it like this to continue being habitable as a civilized, developing one, with well-being for all and, only then, livable.

And, finally, do not forget this, your academic home, your Alma Mater, which today is almost celebrating its first year towards its second fiftieth anniversary. It, its reputation, its continuity and its development are the historical and always present support for its titles and the value and recognition of its quality of origin, to which you will add additional value with your professional performance and your citizen behavior.

As I congratulate you, dear graduating men and women, you and your family members, on this day in which you complete this important stage in your lives, I am pleased to leave you with this phrase that I read some time ago in a graffiti in Rio Cuarto, in Córdoba. , Argentina: "For each ending, invent a beginning"  

Congratulations and may your success continue!