Vincy graduates shine in Taiwan

By Jiang Kang-te Tue, Jun 5. 2012

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Four nationals of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), a nation just about over 1 per cent the size of Taiwan, were among the 4,000 students who graduated from Ming Chuan University (MCU) on the weekend.{{more}}

But while these students, like their other colleagues, donned black gown and mortarboard, with the colours of their hoods proclaiming the degrees to which they have been admitted, the Vincentians were not just faces among the masses sandwiched into the graduation halls.

They were not just regular students, not even among the scores of international students who graduated from the university’s International College.

One of the students graduated with the best academic performance in his programme, one was second, another third, while the fourth was selected to deliver a speech at the college’s farewell cocktail.

Meanwhile, Joanna Jack, a Vincentian sophomore travel and tourism student, was one of two emcees at an awards ceremony held for the international students.

The four graduates completed journeys that began six and five years ago when the Taiwan government awarded them five-year scholarships to study Mandarin Chinese and read for undergraduate degrees.

Alshika Latham, of the South Central Windward community of North Union, graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in travel and tourism. Latham, who before coming to Taiwan was a junior clerk at the Ministry of National Security in Kingstown, graduated second in both her class and programme.

Her performance earned her the opportunity to be among the few exceptional achievers who got to pose with the president of the university for a commemorative photo during the commencement ceremony. And while such an opportunity might not strike most westerners as something to celebrate, it is indeed a feat in this Confucian society, where high power distance and strict rules of propriety are observed and where academic pursuit is valued.

Janiel Frederick, “a proud valley girl” from the South Leeward community of Vermont, also earned herself such a privilege when she completed a BBA in international business and management. She received the third place award for academic excellence in her department.

Jamali Jack, a resident of the West Kingstown section of Campden Park, who was a Dean’s List Awardee in 2010, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in journalism and mass communications. He was selected to give the farewell speech on behalf of MCU Taipei campus graduates at the International College cocktail last Wednesday.

“… as we kindle the all-too-soon-fading memories of the past four years we spent together, let us commit ourselves to make use of our relationships and our education by applying them towards making the world a better place,” he told fellow graduates, according to the text of the speech.

“Only then would the fabric of our lives, our countries, and our world, truly benefit from the passionate contribution of our stitches in time,” he further said.

And while Kenton X. Chance, of the South Leeward community of Rillan Hill, did not get a chance to pose with the president of MCU on graduation day, he was top of his class when he completed a Master of Arts (M.A.) in international affairs, with emphasis on global governance.

Chance, whose thesis focused on media liberalisation and democracy, was not recognized formally at the commencement ceremony because of his student status, according to one university official.

“My understanding is that in [the] academic system you are considered as a first-year graduate student, not graduating student, even though you are graduating,” the official wrote in response to a post Chance made on Facebook, asking why he was not recognized for his academic achievements.

Chance completed his postgraduate studies under a special — “4 +1” — programme that allows students with sustained exceptional performance, desirous of pursuing a Master of Arts (M.A.) in international affairs, to begin postgraduate studies during the senior year of their undergraduate programme.

It is the second time that Chance is completing a degree at MCU in as many years, having completed a B.A. in journalism and mass communication in June 2011, when he also finished as the number one student in both his class and programme.

Frederick, who has spent five years in Taiwan, was also enrolled in the 4 +1 programme but has decided to suspend her postgraduate studies and return to St Vincent to be with her family, after her father died last November. “Nevertheless, I am still, without a doubt, going to pursue my master’s degree. It is very much on my list of top priorities,” she said.

All of the students studied Mandarin Chinese for one year and speak the language with various levels of proficiency, while Jack also studied advertising for one year at National Chengchi University (NCCU), the number two tertiary institution here.

But the students’ achievement and their legacy at MCU — the first U.S.-accredited University in Taiwan — was not purely academic.

Jack, who worked in television production in SVG before he and Chance came to Taiwan in 2006, was media and marketing adviser of the “MCU HIV/AIDS CALL to ACTION” campaign last year, which sensitized the university population about the disease.

While 23,106 persons in Taiwan have tested positive for HIV since record-keeping began in this nation of 23 million people in 1984, the open discussion of sex and sex-related issues is taboo and there is a marked absence of publicly displayed or broadcast information about HIV and other sexually transmitted illnesses.

MCU says that Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has recognized the campaign and plans are underway to adopt it as a template for use in other schools.

Jack was also a television production teaching assistant at MCU in 2010 and 2011 and was executive producer of “Shadow of Greatness” (tinyurl.com/cdz526m), a documentary-type film highlighting the plight of Taipei’s homeless. The film, a graduation project, was produced by a team involving some of Jack’s classmates.

Last year, Jack directed “Thank You: Dr Michael Robert Stein”, a documentary film (tinyurl.com/89yn7m8) — of which Chance was also a production member. The film was a tribute to Stein, who was returning to Australia, and it left the educator in tears when it was screened at a farewell dinner attended by Stein and some of his existing and past students.

Jack and Chance were also members of the International College basketball team from 2008, with Jack playing this year also, while Chance left the team because his master’s programmes necessitated a move to another campus.

Latham, who was based at MCU’s Taoyuan campus, one hour outside of Taipei, placed second in the International Calligraphy Contest in May 2010 and produced the Most Creative Work in the same contest, that showcased participants’ skills at writing Chinese characters.

She also volunteered at the university’s Teacher Education Centre for the past three years, helping Taiwanese students improve their English conversation and communication skills and also worked part-time for one year at the Academic Affairs Division.

Chance, who was top of his class for the six semesters that he undertook undergraduate studies only, also made the Dean’s List last semester.

In addition to being a full-time student, Chance, a practising journalist whose scholarship expired last July, worked as a copy editor and special features writer at a leading newspaper and taught English part-time here to help finance the final year of his master’s programme. This is in addition to writing for his “I-Witness News” blog, which reports on news and current affairs developments in SVG.

In May 2011, Frederick, who worked as a clerk/typist at the Service Commissions Department in Kingstown, was a member of a debating team comprising international students at MCU that won an English debate contest organized by the Department of English of National Taiwan Normal University.

Frederick was adjudged the best debater from the MCU Debating Team. She also coordinated the MCU International College choir, which placed third in the university’s annual choir competition in 2009. Both Frederick and Chance also served separate terms as vice-president of MCU’s International Cultural Exchange Society, while she and Chance were accounting and television production teaching assistants, respectively.

And with another chapter in the students’ lives at an end, three of them — Frederick, Jack, and Chance — will return to SVG this summer, taking with them their degrees, Mandarin Chinese, and an intimate and practical understanding of Confucian societies.

Jack, along with his wife Jeana Jack, a former media practitioner in SVG, who graduated from NCCU with a degree in public relations two years ago, plans to develop their own visual solutions and public relations company, iMaculate iMagez, “and contribute to the overall development of our nation”.

Jack lauds the “very practical international experience that before seemed very abstract” that he had gained in Taiwan.

His time in Asia has made him “acutely aware — both through negative and positive experiences — of the value of some of the things we take for granted at home, like family, primary and secondary education, critical thinking, community, discipline, chivalry, indigenous culture, and national pride,” he explained.

Latham also spoke of her transformation during her stint in Taiwan, her “second home”.

“The five years I’ve spent in Taiwan have been some of the best throughout my life,” she said, adding that she has become “more tolerant and patient with those around me”.

Latham has been accepted to pursue postgraduate studies in management and service science and an International Masters of Business Administration (IMBA) at separate universities here and would also like to improve her Mandarin skills after she decides which master’s programme to pursue.

“After [completing my master’s], I would like to return home, at [which] time I believe I will be better able to contribute to the development of my country and its people,” she said.

Frederick spoke of a similar transformation, saying that her interaction at the “mini United Nations” at MCU has made her more “open-minded in the sense [of] welcoming new challenges, accepting of the strange things and letting yourself move out of your comfort zone; being tolerant [of] the people that are different due to their own cultural and moral upbringing”.

Chance, who aspires to be an international public servant, has already secured full-time employment in mainstream commercial media. “My time in Taiwan has truly transformed me into a citizen of the world. The academic qualifications could have been obtained elsewhere, but it is the experience of learning to coexist with people who are very different in their thinking and outlook on life from myself that really gives a new perspective,” he said.

The students were grateful to God, their families, friends, professors and schoolmates, and the Vincentian community in Taiwan for their contribution to their success. They also thanked past and present governments of SVG and Taiwan for the strong diplomatic ties, which resulted in their study opportunities.

“It is my hope that the relationship between our nations continues to develop not only at a governmental level but also at a more grassroots level. I would like to see more cultural and education exchanges between our nations, particularly with students. There is much we can learn from Taiwan, but there is equally many important things Taiwan can learn from SVG,” Jack said.

“In August 2007, I left as a naïve young adult… Today, my zeal … [has] intensified, my world view has been shaped and expanded and I have since grown to become a global citizen with another language to say ‘Xie xie ni Taiwan’ (Thank you, Taiwan),” Frederick said.