The Honourable Charles Washington Misick, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, has expressed gratitude to Northern Caribbean University for conferring him with the honorary Doctor of Commerce degree during the 99th Commencement Ceremony held on 14 August 2022.
To the graduating class of 2022, congratulations in getting through the easiest part of your life! Your journey is just beginning. President Edwards, I thank you and the administration of NCU for inviting me to give the commencement address and for bestowing this great honour upon me.
When I attended high school here over fifty years ago, it was beyond my wildest imagination that one day, I would be back to give the commencement address and accept the prestigious Honorary Doctor of Commerce award from this noble Institution. I wish to thank my friend and fellow alumni Dr Andy Ingraham for his encouragement to re-engage with NCU. Today I am glad to be home. I am ever so grateful for all I learnt from this amazing institution and this great Adventist faith.
The motto of this beacon on the hill –Ubi Semper Decimus – Where learning never ends is representative of my life. I have never stopped learning. The last time I was here on this campus was about fifty-one-years ago. I am so delighted to be here and very proud to see the growth and development of this great institution. This beacon on the hill has always been an institution of second chances. It was for me. When I attended West Indies College, I was a late starter.
Due to socio-economic circumstances, when many in my age group were going to school, I had to work. You could say that I started my education at the University of Hard Knocks. I enrolled in the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force just shy of my 17th birthday. The town in which I served was quite sleepy and there were not many criminals to chase.
I carried around the study notes received from my long-distance course and took advantage of any down time. I kept the notes in my police cap. At nights while on the beat, I found one of the few streetlights in the town, took my book out and studied into the wee hours of the morning. I served as a police office for four years. My salary was 35 pounds a month – about $100 USD. When I left the Force, (honourably discharged) I had no money.
I was armed with three GCE certificates and a hunger to do more with my life. Those subjects hardly prepared me for matriculation into the college and program that I wanted to study. With the help of relatives, I arrived in Jamaica to embark on an uncharted future and to seek higher education. I got the luck of the draw when I ended up on this campus to finish high school at age 20. I was embarrassed to be in high school with students like my friend, Dr Ingraham who were much younger than I was. My hunger to learn and make something of myself were far greater than my embarrassment.
After one year at West Indies College, I had a high school diploma. With new subjects added to my previous GCE passes, I took an entry exam and matriculated into The College of Arts Science and Technology, CAST, now the University of Technology, UTECH. I graduated in 1974 in the top 10 percent of my class. It was my honour to return to the institution to address the graduating class of 1993.
You Have Got to Take Risks
A lot has happened in my life since I left this school. I have had huge failures and unbelievable successes in business and politics. Academy award winning actor, Denzel Washington says ‘Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success. You have got to take risks.”
I have never let failure determine my fate. I have always failed forward and I have always used setbacks as a setup for a comeback. I am always mindful of the words of the late British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. He failed miserably on many occasions but led Britain to victory in the second world war and saved the West from Hitler and his army. He said, “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
I lost my seat in Parliament in 2003, after serving in the previous 16 years as a backbencher, Premier, and Leader of the Opposition. After that loss, I decided to focus on the business interests I had before politics. I decided to fail forward.
My businesses in tourism and real estate thrived. But as they say, with success failure is always lurking. In June 2012, in the wake of the global financial crisis which started in 2008, I experienced my biggest failure. My $50 million US dollar resort property was repossessed by the bank. I felt like a horse had kicked me in my gut. I was down but not out. In November of 2012, I did not let the loss of my property stop me. I believed that my talent was needed to turn the country’s economy around.
By now you must be thinking – so you just had a failed business, and you have the audacity to believe that you could turn the country’s economy around! No, I was not crazy. I knew that I had turned the country’s fortunes around before and that I could do so again. That is why I returned to politics. My party, the Progressive National Party, PNP won the election, and I assumed the role of Minister of Finance for the next four years.
During that time:
- We retired the country’s debt of $260 million dollars
- Established a national wealth fund and
- We achieved a BBB+ credit rating for the Islands.
Achieving this success required tremendous sacrifices from the people. Though we had taken our islands out of extreme debt and set it on a path to growth and development, we lost the elections. I did not let the loss set me back. I assumed the position of Leader of the Opposition and used our defeat as an opportunity to fail forward. We revamped our party and recruited new members.
By February 2021, in the middle of the COVD 19 pandemic, I lead my team to an unprecedented landslide victory. We won 14 of the 15 seats. Despite the pandemic and the disruptions around the word, the economy of Turks and Caicos Islands is doing well. Under my leadership, we are making sure the people benefit from the gains that we have made.
Graduates! Sharing parts of my life story and political philosophy is to show you that:
- Life is a journey
- Progress is never a straight line, and
- We must always look out for each other
Life Has Successes, Failures
Life has highs and lows, successes, and failures. The potential for success only ends when you stop moving. There will be obstacles in the road that will trip you up from time to time, but that is no reason to give up. Look at me! A barefoot, bare butt, under-privileged boy from Bottle Creek today being awarded with an honorary doctorate degree. I am glad that this great university has judged me not by my failures but by my successes.
This award is beyond my expectation. I appreciate it immensely and accept it with the utmost humility and gratitude. My story maybe different from yours but each of you has already written chapters of your life’s story. Many of you have already experienced hardships and losses and have fantastic stories of triumph to tell. You made a deliberate choice to seek higher learning. You made the sacrifices and put in the work to achieve your goal. Your graduation today is a triumph. You will leave here more qualified and more marketable. However, your days of study are not done.
Your degree is just one step on the learning curve, it will not equip you for most of life’s challenges.
Your degree is important. But! If you place a false premium on that degree and believe it is the end of your journey, you will stop learning on Graduation Day.
Graduates! Remember that the more you know, the more opportunities will come your way.
Charting the unknown requires continuous learning and self-knowledge. But! Most of all it requires a goal to which you will aspire and work. If you know where you want to go and follow the faith-based principles taught by this institution you will be successful in whatever you do.
As you move away from the protective cocoon of Northern Caribbean University, the principles you developed here will help you navigate the ups and downs and the challenges you will face. Like the North Star, your principles will become the most reliable and safe navigational reference. Charting the unknown will require courage, faith, and confidence in yourself. Hopes and dreams are not enough. The Holy Bible reminds us that “faith without action is dead”.
As you navigate life’s journey, you will fall many times. If you stay on the ground and feel sorry for yourself, you will not succeed. You must find the courage and strength to get up, brush yourselves off, stand tall and start over. Be prepared and if you fail – fail forward. Out of billions of people in the world, God has given you the opportunity to attend this iconic Christian school.
As you move up in life, pay forward. You are graduating today because many people paid forward.
Some of you will become leaders of the church, business corporations, civic organisations and even politicians.
- Focus on principles not polls
- Focus on service not titles
- Focus on character not popularity
- Become part of the 20% and not the 80% who are just along for the ride
- Rise to every occasion and grasp every opportunity
- Instil hope and serve the needs of people you are called on to lead
- Keep faith with God as your faith may be your only support if things fall apart. And…
- Always be true to yourself.
Congratulations to the Graduating Class of 2022.
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