By: Amadu Wurie Timbo
For every university student, there comes a day when years of sacrifice, sleepless nights, financial struggles, determination, and unwavering hope culminate in a defining moment.
For the University of Makeni’s (UNIMAK) Class of 2026, that moment arrives on Saturday, 8 August, as the institution ushers its final-year students through the last official chapter of their academic journey under one of its most tightly coordinated sign-out programmes in recent years.
The Registrar of the University of Makeni, Foday Augustine Bangura, said the sign-out exercise will be conducted under strict security and movement restrictions. He emphasized that while the occasion is one of celebration, it is equally a day of discipline, reflection, and academic responsibility.
Bangura explained that before the celebrations begin, students will gather for a thanksgiving service to express gratitude for their academic journey. They will then sit their final semester examinations the last academic hurdle before graduation.
The University’s Public Relations Officer, Shebora Samba Kamara, said the administration has drawn a clear line between celebration and responsibility. He noted that while final-year students will complete their last examination papers between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., the sounds traditionally associated with sign-out celebrations including brass bands, trumpets, vuvuzelas, and other noisemakers will be prohibited across all campuses.
“No vehicles will be allowed onto the university campus. Access will be restricted exclusively to final-year students with valid identity cards and members of staff, while parents, relatives, friends, and supporters will have to remain outside the campus gates. These measures are not intended to diminish the joy of the occasion but to protect the integrity of examinations and ensure that every student completes this final academic milestone in an atmosphere of peace, fairness, and concentration,” Kamara stated.
UNIMAK Vice Chancellor, Professor Joseph Turay, said the regulations carry a deeper message: that true success is founded on discipline.
He urged students to demonstrate, perhaps for the last time as undergraduates, the maturity, respect, and self-control that have defined their years at the university.
“Graduation is not measured by the excitement of a sign-out celebration but by the character displayed in reaching the finish line with dignity and responsibility,” Prof. Turay said.
For many students, the day represents far more than another event on the academic calendar.
Final-year Public Health student Sorie Kamara, speaking emotionally, said the sign-out marks the end of a life-changing chapter filled with friendships, valuable lessons, personal growth, and resilience.
He reflected that many students arrived at the university uncertain about their future but are now preparing to leave with knowledge, experience, and renewed purpose.
As the final examination papers are submitted and students sign one another’s shirts in a long-standing university tradition, an important chapter will quietly close, giving way to new ambitions, careers, and responsibilities beyond the university gates.