ST. CROIX — The University of the Virgin Islands Albert A. Sheen Campus’s Great Hall boasted an aura of pride Sunday afternoon, as family and friends of the institution’s dean’s list — a list of students recognized for academic achievement during a semester by the dean of the college they attend — filled to capacity the room, sitting proud as the names of loved ones were recognized from a list of over 100 students, about 50 of whom were present yesterday.
Yesterday’s acknowledgement of academic success was U.V.I.’s sixth annual, according the institution’s president, Dr. David Hall. The top students represented multiple studies, including college of liberal arts and social sciences, college of science and mathematics, school of business, school of education and school of nursing, according to a program provided by U.V.I.
Students are required to have a grade point average of at least 3.2 (some had perfect 4.0s), according to Dr. Hall, who also made known that students were being honored for their exceptional academic achievements for not one, but two semesters.
“It is a way of trying to let those students know how special they are and how proud we are of them,” Dr. Hall told this publication following the event. The dean’s list receptions are held on both campuses and was in the past held during the spring season.
Dr. Hall also attempted to put to rest any notion that U.V.I. does not attract the territory’s top students. He said he asked all the students who were being honored to stand, and then he asked those who were on the honor roll during their high school years to remain standing. “Just about 90 percent of them remained standing, and that’s because I wanted to send a message that we are attracting the best and brightest from the Virgin Islands. They are not all leaving; they are staying here,” Dr. Hall said.
Yet, the institution’s president added, students’ years at U.V.I. should not only prepare them for careers in the way of knowledge, but also as individuals ready to go beyond making a living and being of service to the communities that they become part of.
Part of the university’s strategic plan is for students who graduate from the institution to be “academically excellent, globally sensitive, entrepreneur-focused, emotionally and spiritually balanced, and willing to serve the world,” Dr. Hall said. “So I was saying to them in my opening remarks, that it is clear that they are academically excellent, but they also have to be willing to serve the world, to serve this community, to serve their families. And that is an important message for us because that’s what the university stands for.”
U.V.I. currently has 2,400 students encompassing all its facilities, according to Dr. Hall. The event culminated with a rendition of its alma mater, sung by U.V.I.’s Voices of Inspiration Community Choir, as well as a closing prayer.
Feature Image: Some dean’s list students pose for a picture with Dr. David Hall. (Credit: Ernice Gilbert, VIC)
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