PGA Remarks at Woodbrook Secondary School, Trinidad.

Madame Principal, Ms. Renee Ramdial,

Teachers, Educators, School Officials, Members of the Alumni,

Members of the Class of Seventy-three, my lifelong friends,

My dear Students,

I begin by expressing my profound gratitude to all of you for the warm welcome and enthusiastic support that you have shown and continue to show to me, since my election to the Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly was announced.

I must tell you that my reference to Woodbrook Secondary in my acceptance speech was no casual thing. In fact, it was quite deliberate, after a lifetime of people I had encountered in the course of discharging my public speaking responsibilities automatically assuming, without any basis except my ability to use language effectively to communicate orally,  that I had gone to one of the prestige colleges. Honestly, I enjoyed their obvious embarrassment via facial expression, when I informed them who my alma mater is.

You see I am and always had been proud to have gone to Woodbrook Secondary, to have gotten there the same British grammar school education as taught in the prestige schools, although to be sure, in those days, physics was not on the curriculum, and the chemistry laboratory was non-functional, so laboratory time was quite infrequent.

But at Woodbrook I found a group of dedicated teachers, who encouraged us to do our best, who nurtured in us a sense of pride both in ourselves and in the uniform, which we respected. Donning the uniform helped to shape us and moreover to shape our behaviour when we were in the public space, out of a desire to represent.

At Woodbrook, I also found a cohort of students/classmates, like myself, disciplined, polite, keen and sincere and from the very start, we bonded. This year, we will celebrate 51 years since graduation and 56 years of friendship and we lift up and celebrate each other and our families as the situation demands.

So in giving a shout out to Woodbrook in that speech, I was doing two things that were important to me; trying to incentivize the current school population to be diligent in their approach to their school work in order to be successful because yes, success is possible from Woodbrook Secondary and secondly, telling my lifelong friends who have consistently supported my career growth, that I was bringing them along with me to the United Nations. I was being a proud and loyal alumnus of Woodbrook Secondary, without the prestige of being a ranking college, had brought great to the nation.

So I am truly humbled and excited to return to my alma mater – a place that profoundly shaped who I am today and a place that elicits in me fond memories that I continue to cherish.

When I sat in these classrooms all those years ago, I would not have imagined such an eventful return – and certainly not in the capacity of President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Although time has marched on, and I am younger at heart than in years, those memories of attending classes, learning, and making new friends remain vivid in my mind.

Woodbrook remains as dear to me, as I am sure it will continue to be for you.

The core values that Woodbrook champions and upholds – respect, integrity, honesty, and fair play – not only guide me personally to this day but are also crucial to building just and fair societies in Trinidad and Tobago and around the world.

Furthermore, the school’s mission of “delivering a comprehensive educational program to develop productive citizens” perfectly encapsulates the aspirations that all nations hold dear to inspire their youth.

This mission resonates with me deeply as a patriotic son of this country and a past student of this great sometimes under-valued institution that has made such an extraordinary contribution to national development through graduating numerous students who went on to distinguish themselves at home and abroad in several areas of endeavour.

Dear Students,

You are coming of age in a truly remarkable era – filled with transformations that were unimaginable even just a few years ago. Opportunities abound.

Digital transformation and other technological advances – in fields such as artificial intelligence – are revolutionizing the way we work, communicate, structure our economies, conduct business, entertain ourselves, and live our lives.

However, you also inherit an era rife with profound challenges and uncertainty – such as the worsening impacts of climate change, escalating tensions and conflicts, poverty, hunger, and economic crises; as manifest also in food insecurity, energy crisis, among others.

These challenges – exacerbated by the negligence and short-sightedness of present and previous generations – will inevitably and ultimately fall upon you to endure.

Meaning you have some homework to do.

Addressing these challenges and seizing these opportunities requires robust education – education of the kind of quality that will help you to effectively resolve problems collectively and uplift you personally and your communities.

Looking back, I can attest to the transformative power of education.

Coming from a modest working class background, it was education that paved the way for my lengthy and yet successful career in diplomacy.

It is this very path – of perseverance and hard work – that has enabled me to stand before you today as President of the United Nations General Assembly.

From my experience, I know that education will open doors for you too and it will set you on a path to independence and hopefully professional in your own chosen fields and become whatever you aspire to be, broadening your mind and making you exemplary citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, propelling your country to new heights on the global stage – perhaps even as a future President of the General Assembly or Secretary-General of the United Nations.

I say this especially to the girls and young women here today – we will also need you in the places and spaces key decisions are made; yes, in diplomacy, in peace and security, but also in medicine, education, technology, the arts and the countless other fields where your talents and creative energies will be critical to shaping the equitable future we want.

And it is especially important that that future is a sustainable one.

It is, therefore, my sincere hope that your education has laid the groundwork for you to become motivated globalists; to recognize that we are all interconnected given the impact of our actions on people and societies half a world away and therefore our quality of life here will have an effect the quality of life of people in far flung places.

In other words, we have to develop a sense of responsibility for the welfare and well-being of others who share the planet with us and indeed with the planet, which is a dynamic, living, breathing host with definable limits of tolerance. So equally, we must all become good stewards of our planet as our common home – and have a responsibility to protect it by all means possible, from its biodiversity to its climate.

My Dear Friends,

As I stand here at Woodbrook, the place where my journey began, I end by urging you all to embrace the spirit of inquiry and ambition that this institution encourages. And I urge you to reach out …. into the world, to look outwards as many opportunities await you there; opportunities for which you will have to compete, but which are not beyond your capacity to win.

I encourage you to get involved in the work of the UN, become a global activist, by joining a  group devoted to a specific issue or problem of concern to the international community, be it  climate change related, environment-related, related to women’s rights, to protecting the oceans and sees from pollution; whatever the cause get involved and raise your voices to help solve these problems and others in your local community.

The UN needs your voices and your insights because it understands that young people are empowered as change makers and have an important contribution to make to improve society. Get connected!!

Harness your aspirations and contribute to shaping the future, your future, our future to create the outcomes that  transcend the limits of our imagination – to help us build a world peace and prosperity where stability and opportunity reign and no one, nowhere is left behind.