Short Story
Lydia Atkins from St. Lucia was the speaker for the Graduate Studies Program. She shared with her colleagues a moving address which would no doubt inspire them on their career and life journeys. In her address, she demonstrated how SGU had caused her and her classmates to bloom: “Before we came to SGU, we were a diverse group of individuals from a myriad of countries with a host of cultural differences and expectations of what the completion of our graduate studies meant to us and to our individual countries. The accomplished individuals who commenced studies a year ago now form a truly exceptional class, having expanded our views, broadened our scope, learnt from our colleagues and been nurtured by our faculty who ensured that they provided the support and guidance to facilitate learning.” She encouraged her classmates to be great ambassadors for SGU even amidst their diversity and urged them to strive to leave their mark on the world. “We exit the hallowed walls of this institution with life-long lessons to learn and a world to influence one corner at a time,” she concluded.
A self motivated individual with a unique combination of technical expertise and administrative experience, Lydia is a consummate volunteer with a cumulative six years of experience in working in the health sector, hospital laboratories in Blood Banking and Bacteriology. She began her public health career as a volunteer with the St. Jude Hospital and later the Victoria Hospital in St. Lucia, which motivated the pursuit of studies in Cuba. She has also taught for a number of years, at the Secondary School level, primarily English Language and Spanish. Her desire to pursue a career in Public Health was cemented during her tenure at the Victoria Hospital and she joined the MPH program at St. George’s University in the Spring of 2010. As a student of Public Health she has an avid interest in chronic diseases and their impact in the region, especially Diabetes and Hypertension, and has submitted 3 abstracts for review to the American Public Health Association and the International Diabetes Foundation. Her academic pursuits and career have been punctuated with community and youth involvement in film making and national cheerleading competitions at the Secondary School level.
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