Graduation address: Wednesday 22 June afternoon ceremony

Graduation address by Professor Ineke De Moortel, Assistant Vice-Principal (Dean of Science)

Vice-Chancellor, honoured guests, colleagues.

First and foremost, of course, my warmest congratulations to all of you celebrating the award of your degree today. This day has certainly been a long time coming but our joy and pride at being here with you today are no less. Congratulations are also still due to all the people who have supported you along the way in getting here; family, friends but also your lecturers and all the other staff in St Andrews who worked tirelessly, and often unnoticed, to support you during your degree.

Despite the familiar Gaudeamus, the gowns, the walk across the stage and the famous St Andrews ‘cap’, there is no way of ignoring that this is not a traditional St Andrews graduation. Graduation ceremonies usually mark both the end of an era, and the start of something new. A mixture of joy and some trepidation about what comes next. Although that might not be quite true today, there is no less pride in your achievements, and we are glad to be celebrating with you. But as well as celebrating, it is perhaps also an occasion to reflect. And the last two years have certainly given us a lot to reflect on.

In March 2020, you were just weeks away from your final exams. You might already have planned parties and got tickets for the graduation ball. Your family and friends might have already organised their trip to join you here in St Andrews for your graduation ceremony. But then, almost overnight, everything changed. We all went home and in those first few weeks, St Andrews became eerily quiet. Market Street was deserted, the beaches empty apart from the occasional lone dog walker and the seagulls deprived of their usual diet of discarded chips. 

We all adjusted, both slowly and extraordinarily fast. Alongside caring for vulnerable family and friends and home-schooling children, staff and students alike got to grips with Teams. Lectures moved online. Exams moved online. Meeting family and friends moved online. IT systems creaked but somehow held out. It was an extraordinary end to your degrees and for most of you, your time in St Andrews. 

Although often overused, extraordinary more than applies to your journey to be here in Younger Hall today. The intervening two years since you have graduated have been anything but normal or easy. But in the midst of all the difficulties the pandemic has brought, are there not also some positives to hold on to? I suspect many of you will have discovered resilience, an ability to adjust and an inner strength you maybe did not know you had. The final part of your degree was certainly not what you expected, and you had to wait two years to get your moment crossing this stage. Many more of your plans will likely have changed, possibly several times.

But if you can get a degree during a global pandemic, what else could you achieve? If we can individually and collectively respond to such large scale and sudden disruption, can we not also rise to other challenges which are looming large? The challenges facing your generation are substantial and it is easy to feel overwhelmed or powerless. And yet, did you not just walk across the stage here? Did we not respond to the pandemic collectively and look after each other? Shopping for elderly neighbours, making masks, simply reaching out to those who were struggling. Worldwide, the number of community initiatives and individual gestures has been astonishing. 

I suspect many of you will agree that in some form or another, you had to draw on your resilience to get to this day. But for me, there was something else to be learned from the pandemic. Humility, following from the realisation that everything we might take for granted can suddenly come to a halt; that something so small as a virus can cause disruption on a global scale. So many things we would never give a second thought, all at once had to be considered carefully. Should we see friends? Hug loved ones? Could we plan travel? We will be feeling the consequences of this pandemic for a long time to come but I for one think that a little bit of humility, remembering not to take things for granted, is perhaps not a bad thing.

As well as the knowledge and skills for which you were awarded your degree, resilience, the ability to adjust and little bit of humility are qualities which you will be relying on during many occasions in the years to come. When things are going well for you, which I sincerely hope they will for every single one of you, remember to occasionally pause and be grateful. And if at some point in the future life is challenging you and you find yourself wondering how you are going to get through, remember your extraordinary journey to be here today.

Although I very firmly believe what I have just said, I also believe that there is no need to test your resilience any further just now, so let me wrap up. Today might not be a traditional graduation ceremony, but all of you are St Andrews graduates. So let me thank you on behalf of all of us for coming back to St Andrews and letting us share in the celebration of your achievements. The last two years have been tough but seeing all of you here today gives me confidence. Such an extraordinary group of graduates can get through anything, no matter how big the challenge. Thank you.