ESEG holds graduation ceremony for the Production Engineering course – 1st semester of 2021

Following Covid-19 safety and hygiene protocols, graduates, friends, and family were able to participate in the event in person.

Graduation is a unique moment in a student's life, as it marks the transition from academic to professional. On the morning of August 28th, the newly graduated Production Engineering students from ESEG – Faculdade do Grupo Etapa – gathered in auditorium J3 to celebrate achieving their engineering degrees.

Professor Pablo Ganassim opened the ceremony by thanking everyone for their presence and spoke about the importance of the moment. “The completion of a course is certainly a reason for celebration. After all, it represents an achievement, the unique effort of each graduate in the pursuit of knowledge and recognition. And the graduation ceremony is a milestone in this celebration. It is at this moment that each graduate shares their joy and expresses gratitude to all who, in some way, contributed to this victory. A victory that, incidentally, should reflect in the evolution of each one, as a person and as a professional,” said the professor.

The official panel consisted of professors Marcelo Dias, Silvia Boarin, Fernando Umezu, Leonardo Macarrão, Carlos Cerqueira, and librarian Andréa Beiro.

Following the official opening declared by Professor Marcelo Dias, president of the solemn table, and the playing of the National Anthem, graduating student Ronaldo Henrique Silva Moreira took the Engineer's Oath, which was repeated by his colleagues in the audience. The students honored Professor Carlos Cerqueira and the patron, Leonardo Macarrão, as well as employee Jaime Bertrando Croppo, a collaborator who actively participated in the students' journey at ESEG.

On behalf of all the graduates, Sabrina Rangel Gonçalves spoke about the emotion of the in-person graduation ceremony at a time when the world is trying to adapt, and congratulated the scientists for their efforts in minimizing the effects of the pandemic. Sabrina also thanked the educators at ESEG, drawing an analogy between the Olympiad and the course, in which everyone wins gold medals for ESEG. “The professors do everything so that we too can be high-performing professionals, and not just in the numerous exams, but in life, so that we can be outstanding professionals in the job market, in the ENADE (National Student Performance Exam), and in society as a whole. So I compare competing in an Olympiad to studying engineering at ESEG; we have to have that level of rigor,” said Sabrina.

Educator Leonardo Macarrão, the class's patron, congratulated the new engineers and spoke about the preparation they had received. "You are technically very well prepared; each of us here (referring to the professors at the table), day after day, strives to surpass ourselves so that this training is ever better." Macarrão also shared, in his words, some of his personal experience of 32 years as an engineer in industries and 18 years in educational institutions. "Every day I try to see what I can do best to bring you a little of everything I have experienced.".

Professor Carlos Cerqueira reminded everyone of the atypical moment we are living through and that it depends on each one of us to make a better world. “We are here at another graduation ceremony, after everything we have been through. We have a completely different planet than the one we had at the beginning of 2020, and we need to rebuild it. And who will be responsible for that? You! Imagine the size of the responsibility of making a better world than we have today. I am sure that you have the complete capacity to do that,” Cerqueira stated.

After the tributes and speeches, it was time to award the best academic performance and the best graduation project. Both awards went to Cristina Reimi Yoshikawa, now an engineer.

The chairman of the board, Professor Marcelo Dias, concluded the ceremony by speaking of the pride he feels for the engineers, for having overcome all the personal and academic obstacles and for being there, at that moment, receiving their diplomas and completing another cycle.