universityofthebahamas

Songs filled the church and tributes followed through the tears.

Inside Change Ministries International Church on Saturday, family, friends and members of the University of The Bahamas community gathered to remember Dahphaney Maxine, a young woman whose presence had become deeply woven into the lives of those around her.

Dahphaney, an education major from Abaco, was found unresponsive in her university dormitory in August. But on Saturday, those who loved her chose to remember the life she lived.

Her brother, Josiah Valcin, spoke of a sister who had a way of making family moments special.

“My sister was one of the best,” he said.

Whatever he needed, he said, Dahphaney would find a way to help.

“When she came home, I was happy to see her,” he remembered.

Even when she told him she was broke, somehow, she would still find a way.

“I don’t know how.”

Dahphaney was a member of the University of The Bahamas Mingoes volleyball team, where Coach Raymond Wilson said she made an impression from the very beginning.

“She walked into our first practice as if she was always there,” he said.

She did not wait for someone to give her a place on the team.

“She made her presence felt,” Wilson said.

He remembered a young woman who arrived with determination and hope.

“When Dahphaney came on board, she came onboard with fire. She came onboard with a big hope.”

For Wilson, Dahphaney’s life reflected the light she carried.

“Dahphaney let her light shine. She did not hide it under a bushel.”

For Nickara Pratt, director of Housing and Resident Life at UB, her memories of Dahphaney began on move-in day in October 2023.

She described her as bright-eyed and full of energy.

“From the first day, we knew something was special about her,” Pratt said.

They saw leadership in her.

Dahphaney had come to Nassau from Abaco to pursue her education, but the university residence became home.

“It was where she laughed, where she danced, where she prayed.”

And where she encouraged other students who felt overwhelmed or intimidated by university life to keep going.

“She was a go-getter,” Pratt said.

If Dahphaney wanted something, she pursued it.

“She was not lazy. She worked.”

She seemed to always have a job while balancing her studies, responsibilities and life as a student.

Pratt described her as “present, engaged and caring.”

They mourned the loss of someone who was still becoming.

“She was growing into the woman she was meant to be,” Pratt said.

“She came as a student and left as family.”

Friends and family of Dahphaney Maxine believed there was still so much life ahead of her.

At 20, the Abaco native was building a future in physical education, having transitioned from the nursing programme at the University of The Bahamas, surrounded by friends, teammates and a community that had watched her grow.

Now, those who loved her are left with memories and the painful reality that her future will remain unfinished.

Her mother, Crystal Bostwick, described a bond that went far beyond the traditional relationship between mother and daughter.

Dahphaney was her “chocolate baby”—the child who had been beside her through life’s highs and lows.

“The first beat outside of my body,” Bostwick wrote.

She described them as being like “peas in a pod,” sharing almost everything and knowing when their relationship needed to be one of mother and daughter and when it could simply be one of friendship.

The loss came just one day before the anniversary of Bostwick’s own mother’s death, adding another layer of pain to an already unbearable moment.

“I know that God would not put more on me than I can bear,” she wrote.

Maxine was found unresponsive in her university dormitory shortly after midnight on Monday and rushed to hospital after CPR was administered. She was later pronounced dead.

News of her death sent shockwaves through her family, the University of The Bahamas community and her hometown of Abaco.

But amid the heartbreak, those who knew Dahphaney are remembering her life.

Pastor Keven Pierre, who remembered meeting her when she first walked into his practice at Murphy Park eager to learn flag football, said he watched her grow into a young woman with a bright future ahead of her.

He remembered her willingness to learn, her development as an athlete and the pride that came with seeing her team win its first championship.

“Your future was so bright,” he wrote in a tribute. “Forever Tigers. Forever our champion.”

For Pierre, Dahphaney was a young person he had watched grow. And now, he said, it was difficult to accept that her life had been cut short.

Across Abaco, condolences have poured in.

North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish remembered Dahphaney as a promising young woman whose loss was being felt by her family, friends, teammates, former schoolmates and the wider UB community.

Her journey had taken her from Patrick J. Bethel High School in North Abaco to the University of The Bahamas, where she was pursuing nursing and building a future of her own.

At the University of The Bahamas, a wave of concern has swept through the faculty as artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT become more prevalent in academic settings.

Professors have raised alarms over students’ increasing use of such technologies to complete essays and other assignments, potentially undermining the educational process.

Daniel Thompson chairman of UB’s School of Business and president of the Union of Tertiary Educators of the Bahamas, spoke to the Tribune about the encounters professors have had with AI-assisted student work. In response, the university is actively seeking ways to curtail the use of AI in academic endeavors.

To counteract these challenges, Thompson and his colleagues are redesigning assignments to demand deeper analytical thinking and context from students.

As an assistant professor of economics, Mr. Thompson has firsthand experience with students attempting to use AI for numeracy-based assignments. His solution has been to craft questions that require a level of understanding beyond AI’s current capabilities, thus keeping the integrity of the educational experience at the University of The Bahamas.

Thompson said the university’s adoption of Moodle, an educational platform, has also introduced measures like webcam monitoring during quizzes and browser restrictions to maintain a fair testing environment.

Thompson highlights the importance of in-person examinations as a strategy to combat AI misuse. By closely supervising students during tests, professors can ensure the authenticity of their work.

Tools like Turnitin are also instrumental in detecting any form of plagiarism.