SLCR Awards Ceremony

Every Spring, the School of Languages, Cultures and Race likes to come together to celebrate the achievements of our students.

Every year, each program major selects the graduating students who best represents academic and personal achievements in their program as their Outstanding Senior. These students have been with us for 3 or 4 years and have typically participated in many of our extracurricular activities. But mostly, each one of them, in their own way has left a mark at our school, not only academically, but in other ways as well. We want to recognize them, above all other students.

In addition, we also celebrate our Outstanding Achievement awards. They are the top two academic performing students per year of study. Recipients of these awards are selected by the faculty members in each program in recognition of their high grades, positive attitude toward learning, active participation in class, passion for their area of study, including their involvement in extra-curricular activities.

Finally, we take this opportunity to celebrate students who have been awarded one of our Scholarships. Recipients of our scholarships must undergo an application process that includes a few short essays, as well as show high academic achievement and commitment to the program. These scholarships are awarded to students majoring or minoring in a program in our school or students planning to study abroad.

(Click on a photo to see it full size)

The School of Languages, Cultures and Race director Dr Vilma Navarro-Daniels welcomed our students with these words:

Today we gather to celebrate you and your achievements.

To those graduating this year, I wish you the best in your next stage. We will undoubtedly miss you. To those who continue and will be with us for one, two, or three more years, I congratulate you for what you have accomplished so far and encourage you to keep going.

Without a doubt, today we celebrate your effort, determination, tireless work, talent, creativity, and discipline. Today is also a day to be grateful: behind your achievements are your families and friends, as well as your teachers, advisors, tutors, and classmates. Without mutual support, things get complicated and may look impossible to attain.

For our part, we feel honored to have you in our classrooms. Perhaps you do not imagine everything we receive from you: your positive energy, your desire to learn and expand your horizons, your sense of humor, your trust in us; something priceless that we treasure in our hearts. For all of this, we sincerely thank you.

I would like to end with a brief reflection on the great Uruguayan writer, Mario Benedetti. Benedetti went through one of the cruelest dictatorships on our continent; 12 years in which the people of Uruguay saw their most basic human rights —such as freedom of expression— systematically violated. Mario Benedetti was exiled, detained, and deported during these 12 years. His literary work was his way of promoting human rights among other values.

However, Mario Benedetti warned us against bitterness. It is true that, in times of darkness, it is easy to become bitter, hopeless, and desperate! Among the many works Benedetti left us, I would like to recall a few lines from his poem, Defense of Joy:

“Defend joy as a trench, defend joy from misery and the miserable, defend joy as a principle, as a flag, as a destiny; defend joy as a certainty; defend joy as a right”.