Valedictory Address

Valedictory Address To our ever active and dynamic school director, Rev. Fr. Porfirio C. Colon, Jr., to our energetic and supportive school principal, Mr. Eufrocino C. Abuzo, to our Education Supervisors, to our beloved and adept faculty and staff, to the alumni led by our alumni President, Mr. Earl dela Victoria, to our supportive and proud parents, to our lovely and handsome guests, to the nervous and excited graduates, ladies and gentlemen, what a successful and momentous afternoon to each one of us. Commencement – what does it mean? It means a beginning. Traditionally, we do celebrate this every end of the school year. This closes a chapter of our high school life and begins another chapter of our life ahead of us. It is the time for us to harvest the fruits of what we had planted during the time we spent in schooling. If you plant a mango, surely, it will bear a mango. It is too impossible for a santol tree to have a fruit of an apple. The kind of plant you have planted affects the kind of fruit you will harvest. We will now go to college, and this is what I’ve termed earlier as the new chapter. I hope that all of us will be successful in our way. You know guys, I am very proud that you are my classmates and schoolmates. Remember that the achievement of one is the success of all. Let us go on with our journey, a journey of discernment of what kind of life to choose. Don’t forget that trials are set by God to test us and for us to learn new things. Think not that you are losing because if you do so, you are conquered by defeatism. To the trials ahead, just remember the memories we have here in CI. Let those failures be our stepping stones towards success. We must join together for our Alma Mater, and make it still the Pride of Cabadbaran. Think of this: a loser says it may be possible but it is too difficult; a winner says it may be difficult but it is possible. Try to aim high, and do your best to reach for it. Doing your best makes you a winner. Why do we need to go to school? What if we look for a job, and for sure we will earn money. In schooling, we don’t earn money, instead we give. That is faulty reason. Faulty reason is equal to erroneous result. That is not the true cost of our schooling. In fact in economics, there is what we called as opportunity cost. It is defined as the economic cost of a good or service produced, measured by the value of the sacrificed alternative. In relation to our purpose in studying, if we choose to go to school, we gain intellectual skills and an opportunity for a better job in the future. In doing so, we spend most of our time in listening to lectures from our teachers, reading books, making assignments, surfing the Internet for more info, and writing papers. To do these, we should not give up because that is the biggest value of our schooling. We do sacrifice at present for a better future. Why do we need to sacrifice? The best answer for that is because we want to follow Christ. We must carry our own cross. We must make Christ as our model. We must follow Him. And that had been emphasized to us by our Religion and Values Education teachers. Yes, it is true that studying is difficult. But as a student, this is our cross. We must not surrender or give up. Our TLE teachers taught us: as we study, we slowly erase the letter L from the word LEARN. After our study, this word LEARN will now becomes EARN. In looking towards our future, we must also look behind. Think of your past and try to improve the present time. What we you are doing at present will reflect our future. If you ask me how did I reach this far, I can answer you with this formula. I always do my best. I think seven times before I do a thing. If I fell down once, I get up thrice. Hindi ko pinagsisisihan ang mga ginagawa ko. I want to learn anything about everything. I know we can do it. We can now face the jungle. As we face the world, we must be proud because we came from CI. Only CI can bring us what of we are now. The lessons and memories we have mold us to become a better person to our community, to our country, especially as followers of Christ.

To tell you honestly, I really dreamt for this. It was just a dream. I can hardly believe that my dream is now initially fulfilled. What’s my dream? To see you wearing toga with a wonderful smile – that is just the initial. My complete dream is that we will become successful someday. We are able to face the challenges of life. I want you to have a happy family. I don’t want that you will have a broken family. It’s really, really hard. Yes, I know that because I belong to a broken family. So, remember to do your best, the best of all your bests. At this moment, I’m proud to tell you that I came from a small barrio; they called it as “bagjang”. I’m proud where I came from, being an ignorant then, because that makes me learn how to look back my past. For all of what I am now, you guys are always on my side. You give me strength to continue everything; to stand every time I fall. You encourage me to pass those trials. For discouraging me, it increases my determination. Allow me to thank you all: First, to my beautiful, lovely and supportive mama, Ma, thank you for everything. I’m sorry ma for what I’ve done to you. When there were times that I made you cry, sorry ma. Ma I love you very much. I’m very proud of you ma. To my family, uncle, kuya…, who are always on my side to comfort me, thank you very much. You all really have done a lot for me. Thank you very much. To my elementary teachers, thank you very much ma’am! You have trained me the basics of my education on how to count, to write and to read which I was confident enough to bring all of these in my high school challenges. To our teachers, ma’am/sir, thank you very much, promise we will never forget those things you have taught us. Someday, makakakabawi din kami. Utang namin ang lahat sa inyo ma’am/sir. Thank you very much! To my coaches, ma’am Gigi, Sir Chua, Sir Guardz, thank you for everything. You know, without them, I will never win. Sir/ma’am thank you very much. To my classmates and schoolmates, thank you very much. You have challenged me very much. I cannot reach this far without you all. Thank you very much! To my friends, mariwasa: Ricky, Rhene, Rainhard, Jerome, Cornelius, and Dennis, thank you for your everlasting support. Thank you my friends. I hope we will continue ‘til the end! Thank you very much! To Alvin, Libe and Julivir, thanks a lot. Above all, to our Almighty Father, Lord, thank you very much! What I am now is all because of You. Lord,God, thank you for everything. All of these blessings will be for Your Greater Glory. You know we’re just a fly who became taller than a carabao because we’re standing at his back. Let us bear in our minds that what we are now is all because of them. It is all because of their sacrifices. Ma’am/sir we’re very sorry for our shortcomings. Before I end, I would like to share with you this: I’ve grown up without a father, and it was just my mama “nga nagpadako sa ako”. One of my reasons to aim this high and reach for this, it is because I want my papa to be proud of me. And I know, though papa is not here around, he is proud of me; and I’m very proud of him. Finally, allow me again to congratulate you all for a job well done. Thank very much! Ideal batch? This is a challenge for all of us. We will reach for it. I quote this: we are dart pins; we can target the bulls eye, it is because of the flight at our back, who guides us towards cherry. Remember that life is just like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep on moving. Mabuhay ang batch 2008! Go for it my fellow graduates! Always choose life. Thanks a lot talaga! Once again good afternoon!