My Valedictory Address (:

I graduated high school last March 26, 2014 at Sta. Maria Ecumenical School. Here is the valedictory speech I prepared for my valedictory address. (:

Valedictory Address

Carl Angelo Mateo Caluag

March 26, 2014

To our honorable guest speaker Rev. Dr. Elino Rivera; our most respected administrator Mr. Isagani Arceo; our beloved principal Ms. Salome Santos; members of the Board of Trustees, faculty and staff, our dear parents, fellow graduates, friends, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

First, I would like to congratulate my fellow graduates for making it here. After four laborious years of continuous seat works, quizzes, those dreadful examinations and mind numbing oral recitations, we have made it this far. Here we are, dressed in our white robes and hats which we would only wear once in a blue moon, already confirmed to be graduated a while ago, and I know that shortly after this program we would all shout ecstatically a resounding “Yes!” or “Sa wakas! Graduate na tayo!”But what matters is, we have completed a part in our life that prepares us for something greater in the future.

To take just a short glimpse of who we have been, we only arrived here four short years ago, and now it's already time to depart. It’s all so fast, isn’t it? It seems like only yesterday that we were an innocent bunch of freshmen going to and fro, trying to find our purpose in life. Now we are where we are right now, the seniors who stand here ready to graduate and move forward in the world. Yet in this very decisive moment, we can't help but look back on all of those memories that will always be special to us.

As the days and weeks passed, we moved from being those naive freshmen, to becoming the confident sophomores, confident because hindi na tayo ang pinakabata, ika nga. As we were in the middle of our high school life, we learned so much about each one’s lives. We are so close and at the same time open to our own various distress calls. That is why we never tire to say we are more than a class; instead, we are a family we can laugh with, talk with, and cry with. Bound by love and amity, we arrived at our junior year, positive that we were prepared to take over for the graduating seniors. Our junior year is also the same time we started counting our days off to our graduation, much to our silliness and exaggeration. I guess if we look back on how we formed a very strong bond back then, how we endured every class activities together and still at the end of the day we still have time to mingle with our friends, how we supported each other’s back on educational and personal matters, how we wished we could stay high school forever, we will not be able to force ourselves not to shed tears.

And now here we are. Time’s up! Wala nang extend extend pa. We have formally done our responsibility and we are now ready enough to face the world. As we look at each other, I know that what we will miss more than the school itself are the friendships we made here. There’s no denying; we enjoyed it more than everything. We have our casual friends, we have our special friends, we have our barkadas and clique groups, we even made friends with our teachers and the staff of the school. We may forget everything we had here, but these people, whatever names we call them, will always have a large room in our hearts.

But before we have the chance to savor this very majestic moment, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the people behind our successes. First and foremost, we owe our Heavenly Father our knowledge, our strength, and our life itself. Being the Source and Provider of  everything in this life we hold dear, He is the reason why we praise, why we worship, why we have daily devotions, weekly cell groups, and monthly convocations. If ever we make a list of those people we give gratitude to, He will always be on top of that list. Needless to say that, without God, there is no life, no knowledge, no education, no graduation. Praise and glory be to our Most High God for being our Master Trainer.

To our beloved teachers, thank you for unselfishly sharing your knowledge and talent to us. We know it is your profession to teach students and you are being paid to teach us, but what you have shown upon us possesses a great deal of dedication. There are times we get too far from what is right, and you never missed your duty to exhort us and explain to us why it is wrong . To our very sweet and hardworking Science Teacher Ms. Ladylyn Gallardo, thank you for being a diligent teacher that when we were having a hard time understanding your intricate lessons, you still continue to tell us that  things that may seem complicated can be simplified, and vice versa.  Thank you for not giving up on us, Teacher Lyn. To our adored Math teacher, Ms. Abegail Flores, thank you for being a punctual and very persevering teacher. Rain or shine, well or sick, morning and afternoon, you pursued your passion in educating students no matter the circumstances, and for that, we highly respect you. Thank you for inspiring us that if we have a dream, as for the function that approaches infinity, the limit does not exist. To our very beautiful and forever young TLE teacher, Ms. Susiebeth Margaja, thanks for being our nanay here in SMECS. You have taught us how to make ourselves look good, outwardly and inwardly. Kanino pa ba kami magmamana ng kagwapuhan at kagandahan? Forever and always you will be our one and only Teacher Susie. To our charming beyond compare English teacher, Ms. Shirley Alberto, thank you for being an undeniably humorous and fun-to-be-with teacher. At times you may be a daunting disciplinarian to us, but in the essence, you are a very sweet and tender teacher. Those profound words may nosebleed some of us, but those are the words that will constantly endear and motivate us. From your ever-loving Spelling trainee, I would never have a coach as encouraging and as inspiring as you are. Thanks for the experiences I shared with you, Teacher She. To our amusing and sociable Computer teacher, Ms. Remalyn Nares, I would like to commend you for not having aged a single day ever since you became a teacher. We really admire how friendly and outgoing you are. Every single day you won’t run out of stories to tell. We will never forget you, Teacher Rhems.  To our hilarious MAPEH teacher, Mr. Jaymark Alejandro, thanks for spending your first year of teaching with us. Thank you for your enthusiasm, in that even if your time slot is not the best, you strived to share to us those lessons that we know you have worked hard to prepare. And lastly but ultimately not the least, to our passionate and zealous AP and ESP teachers, Ms. Rizza Occidental and Mr. Aaron De Leon, our ever-precious advisers, we would like to acclaim your loyalty and eagerness to teach us and at the same time, to process our papers. We have seen how you did not let your busyness take the place of class discussions and bondings. Thank you for the precious time you spent upon us, and we will never forget how much you have sacrificed to mold us to be the persons we are now. To the whole faculty of SMECS who have been our friends and inspirations, hinding hindi po namin kayo makakalimutan. Our memories with you in and out of the school will forever be treasured. God bless po.

            Of course we know the people who worked really hard to provide us with quality education in this very special school, and this is the most perfect time to say thank you to them. Mga minamahal naming mga magulang at tagapag-alaga, maraming marami pong salamat sa inyong hindi nagmamaliw na suporta at pagsisikap upang maitaguyod ang inyong mga anak. The fact that you are here today indicates that you are happy not just because your child have finally finished his or her high school course, but more importantly you have seen how he or she grew up to be the persons dedicated to the service of God and society. Sa aking Mommy at Daddy, salamat sa pagpapalaki sa akin na may takot sa Diyos at paggalang sa tao. You are my first teachers, and the most important lessons you taught me are to respect, to prioritize what’s more important, and under any circumstances, to be humble, at any cost. Minsan hindi ko alam na mali na pala ang nasasabi o nagagawa ko, yet you never missed one of your responsibilities of being a parent: yung pagsabihan ako na mali ako kahit sa tingin ko hindi mali yung sinabi o ginawa ko. At kapag paulit-ulit ako, you never gave up on me. You always kept saying to me that kapag bumitaw na ang lahat, hinding hindi ka bibitawan ng magulang mo. Parents, especially to those who haven’t got the time to attend the Baccalaureate program last Monday, today is not just our time; it’s also your time to be recognized and appreciated. Your unending guidance and support to us your children will never be reciprocated by the material gifts and flowery words we can give you. As the tagline of a famous milk commercial says, you, our beloved parents and guardians, you’re our number one. Mahal na mahal po namin kayo.

Fellow graduates, the truth is we are very fortunate to be a student in this exceptional school. SMECS, our deeply respected alma mater, didn’t just teach us how to know life. SMECS, unlike any other schools, didn’t just teach us how to adapt in life.  SMECS taught us also how to enjoy life, how to love life, how to contribute to the society to improve the quality of life. SMECS sees beyond our dream careers, beyond our ambitions and aspirations. SMECS taught us that the best things of this life are not the money we will make, not the business we will build, not even the profession we will strive to take, because the best things of this life are the love we receive from our Lord, our family and our friends who will be there for us and will make the world a happy place for us. Beyond all the sciences, mathematics, and literatures we learned in our classroom, this is the best lesson that we learned from our teachers here in SMECS, and they are lectured forever in our hearts. Sta. Maria Ecumenical School , ilang saglit na lang at paglabas namin ng campus na ito, iiwan na namin ang masasayang karanasan namin dito. Sana ay naging kabahagi ang aming batch sa pag-unlad ng paaralang ito. Nawa’y maipagpatuloy mo ang iyong adhikain sa paghubog sa mga estudyanteng makaDiyos, makakalikasan, makatao, at makabansa.

            Before I end this speech, and therefore, my last responsibility in this school, I would like to confer a message to my fellow graduates. Let’s face the fact; our high school graduation is not the end of the world to us. On the contrary, it’s the beginning of our real life. That’s why it’s called commencement exercises.  According to a famous quotation by Dr. Seuss, "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go." We will have our own lives in college. Perhaps some of us will be a successful professional someday. Some of us will be the future leader of a prestigious organization. Others may be a varsity scholar or maybe an official player of a well-known varsity team. Some of us will be an average collegiate who will someday achieve his or her dream career as a teacher or a lawyer or an engineer or a doctor or a government official or anything. I pray not a single one of us be led astray by any vices or bad influences whatsoever. But I urge you, my fellow graduates, and that includes me. May all of us contribute for the betterment of our country and our society at large. May we not let ourselves be a burden to our family, to our community, to the government of this republic. Instead, may we do our best efforts to make the world a better place to live, as college students and as men and women of the working force.

            That’s it, classmates, our work here is done. Mission accomplished! At these times, it is proper to say, “Farewell.” But I know much of you would prefer, “See you soon.” Perhaps someday, we’ll all meet again. I pray that, if that happens, we’ll flash to each other our gleaming smiles as all of those happy memories come flooding one after another.  After all, we are still members of the SMECS family, right? Again, congratulations graduates of 2014! Thank you, and God bless all of you.