Police Inspector, sister and daughter make the family proud as UG graduates

By Alva Solomon

When Police Inspector Fiona Fredericks commenced attending classes at the University of Guyana in 2018, she had wanted to give up. The late classes were especially daunting, and when a gunman robbed her of her belongings as she awaited transportation one night after class, she knew the task ahead would be tough.
But this February, Fredericks, who read for a Degree in Public Management, would be graduating alongside her daughter and sister, a feat which the family circle has already begun to celebrate.

Her second daughter, Roshanna, is graduating with a Diploma in Biology, while her sister, Betsy Brown, read for a Degree in Emergency Nursing, a residency programme.
According to Inspector Fredericks, when she commenced studies at UG’s Turkeyen Campus in 2019, she wanted to drop out after only the first week of classes. “The first Thursday I had a politics class, and it was late, and I reached home after 10pm that night,” she said. She was exhausted, and the new routine was difficult to adjust to.
She said she spoke to her teenage daughters and they encouraged her to continue studying. “They said, ‘Mom, this is what you wanted, you go and study’,” she recalled. She said this motivated her, since her family is always her biggest support group.
Fredericks, who is attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the GPF, noted that being a Police officer and studying at the same time isn’t easy. She said at one point she was working the day shift, and she was then placed on the night roster. She noted that this posed a challenge, but she managed to overcome.
She said she recalled a senior officer, whose name she chose not to mention, telling her that she “isn’t UG material, and that I would not make it through university.” This, she said, motivated her to commence studies and, at the same time, she continued praying, adding that she always believes in prayers. She pointed out that her colleagues at UG were always on hand to assist her whenever she was in need of help with her studies.

She said she started out by completing a programme at the Institute for Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE), after which she applied to UG and gained admission to the Social Sciences programme.
Fredericks noted that, in the years gone by, she had never, in her wildest dreams, thought she would be attending university. As a child, while growing up at Hosororo Hill in the Mabaruma sub-region of the North West District, alongside her sister Betsy and other siblings, she said she would one day follow her academic goals.
“I learnt that with God all things are possible,” she added during the interview.
She said her daughter Roshanna is heading towards completing the degree programme in Biology. She said her daughter, who is a former student of St Roses High School, excelled at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams, and continues to do well at UG.
Regarding her Diploma in Biology, Fredericks said her daughter passed with distinction.
She noted that all three of her daughters are at UG. Her eldest daughter is also reading for a Degree in Public Management, while her youngest daughter is reading for a Degree in Psychology.
Fredericks’s sister Betsy told Guyana Times that she is also on an academic journey, one which began since she was in her early 20s.

Betsy commenced studies for her degree in 2019 at UG, and has noted that the Emergency Surgery programme has exposed her to the realities of being an Emergency Nurse Specialist. She said the programme is one which required her to always have hands-on knowledge of the field of study, and entailed both practical and theoretical knowledge being “on point.”
She said graduating alongside her sister Fiona and niece is a “great feeling.” She said being knowledgeable of any field of study is a satisfying feeling. She recalled that during the initial years of her adult life, she worked as a clerk, and during that time, she attended the Government Technical Institute (GTI), where she read for a Diploma in Commerce. She then attended the IDCE and completed another programme to boost her chances of entering UG.
However, she always wanted to be a nurse, and in 2006 she commenced studies in the midwifery programme, and graduated two years later. In 2014, the mother of two commenced studies to be a Registered Nurse, and completed the programme in 2017. Then, in 2019, she decided that it was time to go after the degree. She says that her next plan is to complete a Master’s programme. “I’m not slowing down,” she quipped.
According to the University of Guyana, like the Convocation last year, events this year will be even more special, since the University administration is consistently underscoring that the great resilience displayed by students to complete their degrees in very difficult circumstances of COVID-19 deserves to be richly applauded and celebrated.
The Convocation will be held between February 4 and 12, 2022. A record number of attendees are expected this year, since due to the online nature of the event, there will be no limit to the number of invitees who can join the proceedings via Facebook Livestream.