Valedictorian Dr Vivek Velaga.
The first half of this year was challenging. A part of this was that I was torn between Perth, the best coast of Australia that I’d grown to love, and Melbourne where my parents were. It was only in June while doing rural general practice in Victoria that I got my answer on where to intern. It came from my dad, who told me he didn’t want me to return to Melbourne, and that he’d rather I stayed in Perth. It might sound harsh, but his reasoning was simple.
He wanted the best for me, and he’d seen Perth had given me so much in opportunities, community and personal growth. And the start of that lies in the graduating doctors and staff you see seated before you today.
I remember standing at pre-orientation feverishly messaging my friend in the East about how everyone had their friend circles already set, and how I was (I think) the only interstate student in our cohort at the time. I remember feeling like this really would be an uphill struggle. Luckily for me, it turned out to be anything but that.
I grew to love the cohort very quickly and felt very welcome from day dot – credit to all of you. Barely a few months into Year 1, this cohort turned into the most special one to ever grace building 410. I’m proud to say that as we all continue to rise through the medical world together, we’ll know to say hi to one another, and maybe take a moment or two to joke or recollect some of our CMS memories together.
I wanted to finish by talking about how it’s now our turn to create moments for our patients during some of their toughest days in hospital, but time is a bit tight. So, I’d like to do two more things.
Class of 2025, could I please get you standing and facing the back of the hall?
To our CMS staff, the underappreciated backbone of our medical school experience – thank you. Through the years you’ve received wave after wave of complaints, and many storms in the form of passive aggressive feedback survey responses. But underlying all that is a huge ocean of gratitude we have for you. Each of you has left an imprint on us, as students and graduating doctors, even if we might not realise it now. You’ve guided us through a very demanding and long course, and put in hours of work behind the scenes, that we forget to appreciate because we don’t even realise it happens.
And finally, ladies and gentlemen – standing in front of you are 90 of the best graduates this medical school has seen. If you will, please give it up for the graduating class of 2025!
