A Message from the Chancellor

So far being in Grenada has proven to have its perks and shortcomings.  It's hard to adjust our fast-paced American minds to take it easy on "Island Time".  But we have been in awe of the diversity at St. George's and have been getting eager to learn from the ramifications of such.  Last night there was a lot to process at the White Coat ceremony.  The overall theme of the night was "courage".  We learned a lot about St. George's University from the Chancellor and founder, Charles Modica.    He shared his story of courage to create the university when he was in his 30's.  He shared about the courage of the charter class to work hard and to stand by the school in its beginning stages, saying they didn't just need courage, but also a sense of humor.


The Keynote speaker, Dr. Iona Heath, spoke about courage and joy.  She challenged the students to have the courage to be an advocate for their patients, to grow close to them, to look beyond the idea of the "map" of the human to the person .  She also told them to have the courage to know that you are not always right, and to have the courage to doubt what they will learn at times.  Her words were powerful and spoken with the backing of aristotle, and Tolkien, to which I will not pretend to do any semblance of such.  But she closed telling the students to also find joy in their work and to, "have courage when (she) lacked it, and all the joy (she) had and more."  Those are words spoken from a writer!

All the while 570 students received their white coats, their name and birth place were said.  As this happened my mind formed a map of the world and highlighted all the countries that were said.  As the globe started becoming highlighted all the same color, so the room simultaneously from a room full of ethnicities and religions to a sea of white.  All the students were now robed with the same ambition.  As the Chancellor said, in a world full of hate and war, these students can band together to love and support one another as they seek to heal and create peace.

This really is my most accurate map coloring.  I created it!
http://www.29travels.com/travelmap/