INTEC Rector calls on graduates to seek the greater good and move away from individualism
INTEC graduated 734 new undergraduate and graduate professionals this Saturday, including 11 with doctoral degrees. Additionally, 32 scholarship recipients from the INTEC Program for Outstanding Students (PIES) received their degrees.
SANTO DOMINGO. – With a call to practice their profession with a collective sense and responsibility, the rector of Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), Arturo Del Villar, urged the 734 new graduates of the university this Saturday to put the greater good above the individualism that drives today's society.
“In an era that often applauds fierce individualism, dare to seek the greater good, understanding that the most lasting success is that which improves the lives of others. When you see injustice, when you see a system that doesn't work, don't wait for someone else to fix it. You are the person we've been waiting for,” Del Villar asserted.
During the seventy-second graduation ceremony, 734 professionals received undergraduate and graduate degrees, including 11 new doctoral graduates. These included the first graduates of the Doctoral Program in Social Sciences: Sheila Báez, Wendy Martínez, Jenny Torres, Juan Luis Corporán, and Naftali López. The graduates receiving doctorates in Environmental Sciences were Casimiro Maldonado, Carime Matos, Pamela Michel, and Carlos Suriel, while the graduates receiving doctorates in Mathematics were Marc-Kelly Jean Philippe and Antmel Rodríguez.
Of the total number of graduates, 533 are from undergraduate programs (72.62%) and 201 from postgraduate programs (27.38%). Furthermore, 398 are women (54.22%) and 336 are men (45.78%), reflecting the growing participation of women in higher education. At this graduation ceremony, 272 students received academic honors: Summa Cum Laude: 137 (50.37%); Magna Cum Laude: 102 (37.50%); and Cum Laude: 33 (12.13%).
Call to reflection
During his speech, andThe rector of INTEC urged the graduates not to be indifferent to the shortcomings of their environment. “When you see an injustice, when you see a system that doesn't work, don't wait for someone else to fix it. You are the people we've been waiting for,” he stated.
Engineer Del Villar argued that in a world where it's easier to criticize than to build, true merit doesn't belong to those who point out the stumbles of the fighter, or how the person doing things could have done them better. Merit belongs to those who are truly in the arena. Those whose faces are stained with dust and sweat; those who make mistakes and fall short time and time again.
“Don’t just ask yourselves what opportunities the world will offer you now that you have this degree. Ask yourselves what you can do with this degree to serve our society,” Del Villar emphasized.
He also reiterated that the country's history has been driven by those who dared to challenge the status quo and think big, and therefore invited the new professionals not to be content with the status quo, but to become agents of change.
Scarlin Hernandez, guest speaker
The keynote address at the graduation ceremony was delivered by astronautical engineer Scarlin Hernandez, who was part of the teams of the James Webb and Nancy Roman space telescopes of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Hernández pointed out that graduation is not the end, but a launch into a world that is changing faster than ever, where artificial intelligence evolves every minute and where uncertainty about the future arises.
“The world isn’t easy, it never has been. But there’s something many forget… You aren’t either. You aren’t easy to defeat. You aren’t easy to replace. You aren’t easy to ignore… when you decide to move forward,” the engineer stated, adding that you don’t need to have everything figured out to make the decision to move forward and emphasizing that it’s not preparation that defines success, but making the decision.
The ceremony
After the graduation ceremony, Andrea Saylin Villar Fortunato, a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the Bachelor of Science in Business Engineering, with an academic index of 3.98, was in charge of administering the oath to all her classmates in her graduating class.
The thank you speech was given by Lorena Isabel Luciano De la Mota and María Fernanda Santamaría Torres, both Summa Cum Laude graduates of the Bachelor of Psychology with an academic index of 4.00.
The young women spoke about the importance of parental support in their university studies. “Every sleepless night, every piece of advice, and every word of encouragement has been fundamental on our path to success. You believed in us even when we doubted ourselves, and for that we are eternally grateful.”
Graduates with PIES Scholarships
At this graduation ceremony, 32 scholarship recipients from the INTEC Program for Outstanding Students (PIES) received their professional degrees, 26 of them with academic honors: seventeen (17) Summa Cum Laude; eight (8) Magna Cum Laude; and one (1) Cum Laude. Part of these scholarships were sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCyT), AFP Siembra, and the PIISA Industrial Park.