UNBC grad caps off long course of study

He was the last of the 271 graduates of UNBC's College of Science and Management to hear his name called Friday.

While his friends and family from Vanderhoof roared cheers of approval, Doug Read picked up his bachelor of integrated science degree that was 11 years in the making.

"It's kind of grueling and a little bit awkward to be the last guy, but that's alright," said Read, 36.

"It came down to the last minute, graduating, so it's pretty fitting I was last. I just got past a course and I found out about a week ago, so probably, literally, I was the last guy to graduate. So that worked out well."

Read was 25 when he first enrolled at UNBC in 2001. His integrated science studies were a combination of biochemistry and biology, and he hopes that will lead to a career as a forensic scientist working for the RCMP.

Read has an emergency service background. While his degree was on the backburner, he was working as a firefighter for the Prince George Fire Department and also dousing forest fires based out of Fort St. John.

"This is my 11th year and it's really good to be finished my degree," Read said.

"I have a few ideas [for future studies] and I might go to dental school or go a different direction and consider the RCMP. My degree is oriented to forensics so it would be a pretty good fit."

UNBC's class of 2012 has 732 graduates. That did not include John Furlong and Cindy Blackstock, who both received honourary doctor of laws degrees Friday.

Furlong, the CEO of the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver, addressed the morning group of graduates from the College of Arts, Social and Health Sciences, advising the students to use their education to accomplish their career goals and reminding them of the importance of integrity.

He spoke of the honesty and values his father John Jack Furlong instilled in his seven sons and one daughter. He described how his father, an employee of the Irish Prison Service, left in his will 500 pounds to the Irish government to pay for all the pens and erasers he'd taken home with him, even though it was determined those thefts had never occurred.

"My dad didn't take anything, he was just giving us one last lesson in life," Furlong said. "If it's not yours, don't take it; if you break it then fix it; don't be saying bad things about other people; learn from your mistakes."

Furlong spoke of the courage and commitment of Olympic cross-country skier Petra Majdi of Slovenia, who won a bronze medal with five broken ribs and a collapsed lung suffered earlier in the day in training when she skied off course and fell down a cliff.

"To be successful, to have a chance to make your mark and make your contribution to society you have to have to believe in something and never let anyone tell you that belief is not real, that it's not important," said Furlong. "Fight for it every single day and have it define you as a person. You'll be astonished at how many good things you will accomplish along the way. You have to find the courage to confront the darkness that comes to everybody at some time."