IT’S as if Duvaughn Dick added the last piece to a puzzle when he graduated with his doctorate.

Overwhelmed with pride, Dick can finally add his graduation photo to his house’s family wall of graduates which include those who have completed their master’s and PhD studies.

“I have to walk past that wall every day so there was no way around it. To know that I am going to go on that wall when my official graduation photos come out, it feels great because it was clearly incomplete without me,” Dick said with a chuckle.

“My older sister and my father have PhDs, and then my younger sister and my mom both have master’s. I was the only one with a bachelor’s degree, and I wanted to get on that wall. They motivated me indirectly that way,” he added.

On May 13 he walked across the stage at College of St Scholastica, Minnesota, United States, and copped his doctoral certificate in physical therapy.

In fact, Dick was the only Jamaican among 331 candidates at the commencement ceremony for postgraduate degrees in six disciplines.

“It felt great. I endured two years of hard work. I had to be doing my classes, running my private practice, and preparing to compete at national championships for bodybuilding. It was a tough journey, and just being able to walk across that stage was a huge accomplishment and I am very happy for that. It felt as if I did my country well,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

While pursuing his postgraduate studies the fledging bodybuilder won the heavyweight bodybuilding and classic bodybuilding divisions of the Jamaica Amateur Body Building and Fitness Association in July, and placed third in the Central America and Caribbean championship in August.

Dick’s bodybuilding journey started while attending Campion College. He would constantly visit the gym to stay fit as he participated in the GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

He entered bodybuilding’s competitive arena at the national championships in 2019 and represented the country that same year.

He said completing his doctorate while keeping up with his bodybuilding was a task.

“I felt a lot of pressure as I wasn’t only doing it for myself, but for my family and my patients as well. There was a lot of pressure trying to balance things from my personal life while trying to do the doctorate,” he said.

His father, Reverend Dr Devon Dick, is immensely pleased.

“I am very proud of my one son, my beloved son who — while having his own physical therapy practice, and while becoming heavyweight bodybuilding champion, and while getting married last year — was able to successfully complete his doctorate in physical therapy. That is no small achievement,” he said.

In the meantime Dick, who operates the Advantage Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Limited at Giscombe Gym and Wellness Centre in St Andrew, said his doctorate will help him to improve the services offered to his patients.

“Moving from a bachelor’s to a doctorate, I have been taught about way more than treating my patients’ conditions. It gives me a more holistic view in treating my patients and their conditions, and medications, and how it affects therapy,” said Dick.