SEAN Pemberton, a 22-year-old man, has etched his name into history books as this year’s University of Guyana (UG) Valedictorian and he clinched the coveted title after pursuing a rigorous Bachelor’s Degree in Economics.

Pemberton and nearly 3,000 other students graduated from the institution on Friday and Saturday. Each student, whether conferred with a certificate, diploma or degree, has a unique story to tell. The Valedictorian’s story is one of determination.

In a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Pemberton revealed that economics was not necessarily a field that he liked before starting out at UG. With a knack for taking on challenges, however, he decided to pursue the programme.

“I had some consultations and I was told economics was a hard programme at the university. But me, I like a challenge, and I said I’m going to do it just to prove that I can do this. So that is how I fell into the field of economics,” the young man said.

Clothed with confidence, Pemberton began classes soon after completing the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) at Queen’s College.

As was expected, he encountered some difficulties adjusting to the university’s pedagogy, as it was markedly different from his experience at the secondary education level.

“It was a difficult transition from high school and doing CAPE [to] being more in an environment where you would have to depend on yourself and you know a Bachelor’s Degree is something that you have to read for, [because] the lecturers wouldn’t spoon feed you or be behind you to study,” he explained.

But he was determined to succeed and he tried his utmost even when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted his ongoing adjustment to the university style of learning.

Pemberton had to adapt to a new environment once again.

“I started in 2019 and that was the pre-pandemic era, so I had about a semester and a half on campus. The journey was basically two-fold, there was life on campus and there was online…when we were hit with the pandemic period, transitioning from an on-campus mode to more technology mode was even more difficult.”

He, however, said there were some perks to attending classes online.

“Doing it online you were more free [sic], you were more relaxed; you got to do it in the comfort of your home, you don’t have to get up early to travel to catch a bus to reach on time, you could sit right in your bed and do it,” the Valedictorian said.

Although those perks were enjoyable, Pemberton admitted that the new academic environment brought on new hurdles which required him to transform as an individual, grounded with principles of determination and discipline.

And not only did he successfully complete his degree, but he did so in a shorter timeframe.

“My degree programme is a four-year programme …I finished my degree programme in three years, so in order for me to finish in three years I had to double up work and pull extra courses.”

Importantly, too, Pemberton said he is the first Economics major to be Valedictorian in the university’s history.

After achieving these feats, he believed he was well-positioned to offer advice to other students. According to him, if anyone wishes to achieve anything in life they must set a clear goal or picture of what they want to achieve and to work towards that goal, and leave no room for procrastination.