To everyone who is graduating- today is for you. You can look at yourself in the mirror later tonight and know that you beat the odds that may have been stacked against you; whether it be unforgiving past, unfortunate experiences, or any person who told you, you couldn’t do it. And yet, you did. YOU did it. There have been people who have helped you along, yes, but in the end, there’s you. So, be proud of yourself.

Today is indeed a great day. A day you have been waiting for since you entered kindergarten more than 20 years ago. From all the international students (being their representative) and from my side, heartiest congratulations to all the graduates and their families.

And you don’t have to stop there! This graduation has already shown us how capable you all are of accomplishing your goals when you commit yourselves to them. I hope all of you here today can take this personal accomplishment as an example of how anything is truly possible when you put your minds to it. As you all continue on with your lives, take each new problem on with confidence, knowing that you have achieved great heights and are equipped with the necessary tools to tackle your futures.

And this was true for me particularly. I was raised in a small village, a war effected militarized town in northeast of Pakistan, called Azad Kashmir. Life for me was tough during the initial years, as I used to hear bombs exploding just a few kilometers from where we lived, not sure where the next would land. We lived with a mixture of hope and fear. Hope that this would all end one day and we would be able to live a normal life, fear that any day could be the last day of our lives. For us, higher education was not a priority, and soon after graduating from high school, people would try to find jobs to support their families. To make the situation worse for me, my father fell ill when I was still a young boy. As he was the only bread earner in the family, I had to struggle to earn money, not only for my family but for the continuation of my education as well. At that point in time, who could have imagined in his wildest dream, that this boy, one day would be graduating with a PhD degree from a world-renowned institute and standing before you, delivering this graduation speech. I am not only the first PhD in my family but also the first one from the small town where I come from. I am proud and at the same time humbled to say that my story of success against all odds has had a very positive influence on the children of my town. I have been told that every child wants to follow in my footsteps. Be prepared to welcome many more Kamran Amins’ from my village in this Institute in the years to come.

There was a time when I wasn’t sure if I’d even be around to see this day, but I did it. In this journey a lot of people, friends, family members and teachers helped me get where I am today. I am really grateful to all of them.  I owe a big thanks to my family especially my parents. I wish they were here today to attend this ceremony, but unfortunately fate willed it otherwise I dedicate this degree to my parents, my wife and all my teachers from the primary level to the university level. They all effected my life in a big way and are responsible for who I am today.

My journey at NCNST (and please don’t worry I am not leaving this Institute even after graduation) has been a very pleasant and happy one. I have some really good memories of Director Zhao, Professor Wang Chen, Professor Tang and Professor Han Baohang, all of them are wonderful and amazing human beings. As student representative I have honored to invite director Zhao in our events even when he was director student affairs and he used to motivate us with his stories during his stay in Japan. Also, I especially thank my supervisor. I believe that every professor at NCNST is kind and supportive but professor Wei is at a different level. Remember one of his remarkable quotes “I don’t get stressed and don’t stress my students either”. We saw him every day smiling and elated.

Another bright feature of my staying at NCNST was and still is my interaction with some of the most kind and supportive people in education department. Director Pan Hailian, Teacher Lou, Miss You Jia and all those members in education department, I guess they are the best human resource managers, with really kind supportive and friendly attitude and I really feel proud of working with them.

Last but not least I wanted to take this moment Govt of Peoples Republic of China for providing us the generous financial support during our study and stay in China. These scholarships are not actually helping the students to get quality education but also a lot of us are supporting their families including me for example my siblings were able to get good education because of the stipend I received. So, these scholarships are actually reshaping the lives of thousands of families in Pakistan and other countries and on behalf of all of them I am so appreciative and sharing our love and respect for the peoples and Govt of Peoples Republic of China and to all of you. We are truly grateful.

Also, I have had the honor of leading the international students for the past 4 years and I am really grateful to all the international students for their trust in me and their support in the events we organized. I will end now with a famous quote

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."

Let’s write our own history, a magnificent one.