Key to success
NSCC students accomplish their goals
Getting to the stage at the NSCC on Graduation Day isn’t always an easy path. Valeska Penny knows that. At 19, she left her home on the Caribbean Island Grenada, and as part of an exchange program came to the Nova Scotia Community College.
While she is a lover of travel, she admits there was a lot to adjust to when she arrived in Pictou County last August, shivering at the cold temperature.
“It was a stretch for me,” she says.
But it was one that paid off through hard work and dedication – two things that Penny said are key to success. She also believes another important fact is loving what you do.
“It can’t be all work and no joy. You have to enjoy what you’re doing and have fun doing it. If you have fun doing it, you will give it your all.”
There was plenty of fun in her cooking classes, including a friendly cooking competition between the boys and girls.
She was chosen as the valedictorian for this year’s graduating class.
The message she said she wanted to leave is that nothing is too hard to achieve.
“The prize is to the one who wants it,” she said.
This year, 323 Pictou Campus graduates received diplomas or certificates.
Speaking to the graduating class and their families, Pictou Campus Principal Dave Freckelton said the details and dreams may differ from student to student, but with the help of faculty and the support of loved ones, the students were able to accomplish their goals.
He talked about the students who created a chapter of the entrepreneurial group ENACTUS, which held events like a job fair and a “dress for your future event.”
He talked about the carpentry class that worked with ENACTUS to build flowerbeds for a local homeless shelter and of a class of electro mechanical students who built a device to hold tuna heads in place for researchers to take tissue samples.
“Knowledge combined with purpose and determination is transformative,” he said. “Together they create a powerful force for positive change.”