Dr. Elizabeth Emongor

Today, my daughter, Lucia Nyamori, graduates from USIU with a Bachelor of Arts in Animation, with a concentration in Game Development. Next month, God willing, I will watch her graduate again from CUEA with a degree in International Relations. Two degrees. Two very different disciplines. Pursued concurrently. As her father, my heart is overflowing. But Lucia, today I celebrate more than the certificates. I celebrate the woman who earned them. I have watched the pressure, the sacrifices, the long days and the determination to keep going. There was a time when I held your little hand and tried to show you the way. Today, I look at the young woman you have become and realise that increasingly, I am the one learning from you. So allow your father to leave you with one lifelong instruction: Read, Lucia. Read. Read widely. Read deeply. Read history, literature, philosophy, science, politics, economics and the stories of people very different from you. Read people you agree with - and especially those you do not. Your degrees may open doors. Reading will keep opening your mind. Never become so educated that you stop learning, or so successful that you become unteachable. Do not spend your life competing with others. Compete with yesterday’s Lucia. Know more tomorrow. Think deeper tomorrow. Be kinder tomorrow. Become wiser tomorrow. Animation and Game Development teaches you to imagine worlds that do not yet exist. International Relations teaches you to understand the world that already exists. Spend your life doing both: understand the world deeply, and never lose the courage to imagine it better. Protect your name. Keep your word. Be kind. Take intelligent risks. Create. Travel. Question. Serve. Love deeply. And wherever life takes you, remember there will always be one place where your victories will be celebrated without jealousy, your disappointments received without judgment, and your return welcomed without conditions: Home. No academic distinction could make me love you more. No failure could make me love you less. Today, USIU. Next month, CUEA. After that - the world. Go boldly, my daughter. And through it all: Read. Read. Read. I am immensely proud to be your father. Congratulations, Lucia. ❤️🎓 Dad.