Graduations- July 2018

Its that time of year once again where we congratulate a new batch of students on all their hard work as they graduate from our educational and vocational courses. It is a hopeful and exciting time for us all to see the students head out to the world with their new skills, following in the footsteps of many others who have gone before them and established them as successful entrepreneurs, even going so far to become employers themselves who empower other villagers in their community through creating new jobs and opportunities.

The Business Skills, Language Training and IT Centre Graduation Ceremony took place on the 6th of July with total of 280 students graduating from the IT Centre (174) and the Language and Business Skills training courses (106) while the Women’s Enterprise and Empowerment centre held its graduation ceremony the following day on the 7th of July with 225 students graduating from its programmes. Over the weekend a total of 505 students graduated from our programmes as per the chart below:

Among those wishing them well were Deshbandu Ranjan Semerath Madugalle (Former Sri Lankan Cricket Captain and the Chief Match Referee for ICC) and Kumi Madugalle who were the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively at the Language, IT, Diving & Business Skills graduation. Along with the Women’s Enterprise Graduation Ceremony’s Chief Guest Roshan Wijerama  (CEO of Horizon Group USA) and Guests of Honour Melissa, Devin, Riana, Norbert and Manjula Wijerama, Renuka Wijerama, Rajiv & Ashan Malalasekera and Jayani Wasundara who is a returning graduate not working as the Assistant Pastry Chef at Shangri-La Hotel .

As per tradition, the Women’s Enterprise students organised a bridal show on the following day to showcase all the skills they had gained over the course of six months’ at FoG and we were deeply honoured to have Gerald Solomons of Chagall Salon as our Chief Guests at the event, who also helped select the winners of the bridal wear competition. He was also joined by his sister, special guest Leonie Solomons.

We are greatly honored to have had the opportunity to touch over 500 lives on their journey to success, and hope that these skills and experiences will help them improve their lot in life through their education, to carve out a professional niche for themselves in the job market or to establish their own businesses.

25th July 2018