End of graduations: Humanities, Migration, Nursing and Physical Therapy

After two weekends of graduations, the Cantoblanco marquee experienced its last day of hugs, laughter, excitement and nerves. Dozens of students were recognised for their efforts in the presence of lecturers, family and friends. The end of a stage and the beginning of a work adventure in which many are already immersed.

Emotion was the predominant feeling in Sara Veneros, a student of the Master's Degree in Palliative Care, who represented this year's graduating class and who confessed that she owes much of who she is today to the university. Also a lecturer at the university, she said that care does not and should not know borders and crosses all areas of knowledge. She also confessed what her mother advised her: "Be a person for the world", which connects perfectly with the spirit of Comillas, which trains the best for the world. "What is really important is that there is someone out there who needs us. We live in an increasingly complex and unstable world, with multiple crises that affect us, but above all, we are still a world of people who need other people," said.

He also had a special mention for the lecturers "who work with dedication and excellence every day to make this a great university; thanks to them, students not only acquire knowledge, but also the support and inspiration necessary to become great professionals".

Great professionals such as Karoline Fernández de la Hoz, godmother of the graduating class. After reviewing her professional career as an epidemiologist in different countries around the world and now as director of the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Fernández de la Hoz warned them that a new path full of experiences and responsibilities is opening up. "You will see that things are not easy, that the world is not the ideal you had imagined, that it takes time to get what you want but that, if you really try, everything comes sooner or later," she told the new graduates.

De la Hoz emphasised three key concepts for the students' future careers: vulnerability, dignity and care. She stressed that vulnerability will form an intrinsic part of their professional activity. Because his work at the observatory is to protect vulnerable people, he warned those present that "all of us here have been or will be vulnerable at some point in our lives". She also spoke of dignity, which is "the expression of the profound respect for human beings, of the empathy that exists between all of us" and which constitutes the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And she referred to care, actions that result in well-being, mainly physical and emotional. "Your work has to do with science, with knowledge, but also with the commitment and responsibility of care," she acknowledged. "You have in your intelligence, in your knowledge, in your hands and in your heart the ability to do work that has an impact on people's lives".

For his part, Enrique Sanz, SJ, Rector of Comillas, called for commitment and the search for the good. The commitment has to be "with life and with humanity", and "in such an interrelated and interdependent world, the committed person assumes the public as a platform for the common good, nationally and internationally," he said. And he encouraged the recent graduates to be "our best ambassadors, our best alumni wherever you are".

Congratulations to all graduates!

See all your graduation photos here🎓