Success Begins with Education at Home
TORONTO – It was a great Convocation – a testament to transformative processes in education that motivated nineteenth century ideologies spurring public investments in societies on the move, literally, to educate the leaders/masters of tomorrow. We would learn from them: thinkers and problem solvers, “doers” who would be known for the scientific, artistic, medical, industrial innovations that transcended societies and cultures across the globe.
I was there in my capacity as a [very proud] parent, one of whose children was receiving a PHD (Honoris Causa). About one thousand others – equally proud – were there to celebrate a milestone in the lives of their own children, three hundred citizens from the world over, who had earned a University Degree in the cursus honorem of “academia”.
My son, Flavio Volpe, was different, simply because he had been invited to deliver the invocation, for reasons that related to him… and his mother, Mirella (may she rest in peace), whom he revered. He needs no reasons to express himself in humble terms except to reflect the quality of his upbringing and commitment to constant improvement.
He began (and I paraphrase), “those of us on the stage must remember two things: one, we did not get here on our own; and two, the degrees and certificates we are receiving are testimony to the tools we can now perfect for the common good”. It was a gentle nod to the culture developed among York students, like his mother and older brother before him. His address was aspirational – the best is yet to come, but that can only happen if the graduands take their mission to heart. He did, I said to myself.
It seemed only yesterday, as a very young family, we moved to a very working-class neighbourhood in Malton, in the middle of the proverbial nowhere, at the time, to a modest home next to the Rosa family. Their eldest daughter Sabrina, Flavio’s age, was there like me to glory in the accomplishments of her daughter Madeleine, a graduate in Sciences and now working on a degree in Education like her mother before her. Without being trite, that is the key to success: a great mother and the drive to do more. Grandparents round out the picture to share the pride on behalf of everyone else.
Here below is a photogallery from the event
