STUDENTS of the Alleyne School in St Andrew were given a pep talk by distinguished transplant surgeon Dr Velma Scantlebury-White last Friday .The Barbadian and former student of the school who is now based in the United States, was home for a short visit and took the opportunity to speak to the students of her alma mater. In her speech Dr Scantlebury-White told the students that they should set their goals early in life and work hard towards achieving them. “Nothing good in life comes easy and to achieve or to be the best in what you do, you need to make sacrifices,” she advised. She said when she first decided to enter the field of medicine and surgery she was greeted with many obstacles, negativity and challenges. “One was whether I had the capabilities to succeed or even what it took to get there, especially as a female trying to enter into a predominately male profession. It was even suggested that I should consider doing less demanding things like radiology or paediatrics. Despite all of that I pursued what I wanted to do and not what others wanted me to do. “Of course there were limitations and obstacles along the way but I think my determination and drive to prove that I could really do it, is what kept pushing me to see if I could succeed in the face of all the discouragement along the way. In the end I was able to do it.“Today I wish you to encourage the students in the various schools to dream high, to have a goal and a vision of where you see yourself. In seeing yourself in the future, you should create a path as to how you will get there,” she added.Dr Scantlebury-White, who is attached to the Christiana Care Hospital in Delaware as the director of their Kidney Transplant Programme, delivered the annual Olive Trotman Memorial Lecture at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre sponsored by the Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union.
