Valedictory Address
To our distinguished guests, ever-supportive and caring parents, to the members
of
Saint
Vincent
De
Paul Colleg lege
famil amily y
–
facul acultty,
staff, ff,
administration, and most especially our beloved principal, Mr. Jesus T. Agbuya, the annual awardees, and my batch mates of class 2009 – 2010.
It seems like it’s only yesterday when I first set foot in this learning instit instituti ution. on. I can still still clearl clearly y remem remember ber the times times when when we were were running running around like wild kids playing our favorite games of dodgeball, se-Q base, and bang-sak, but now, we are already the “ate’s” and “kuya’s” that implement discipline on those kids during our tiring duty detail days. It seems like it’s only yeste yesterday rday when when we were were spendin spending g our free free times times memo memorizi rizing ng the whole whole periodic table, thanks to our iron-fisted Chemistry teacher Sir Virgo. It seems like it’s only yesterday when we were staying up until dawn to finish our journals in English and Filipino. It seems like it’s only yesterday when we were mixin ixing g chem chemic ical als s and and diss dissec ecti ting ng fro frogs with with bare bare hand hands s in our our Scie Scienc nce e laboratory. It seems like it’s only yesterday when we were running barefoot on the muddy field playing mob football.
We wouldn’t have experienced any of these if our parents did not send us in this school. So to our loving parents, we know that words won’t be enou enough gh to expr expres ess s our our grat gratit itud ude e for for all all thes these e year years s that that you’ you’ve ve been been supporting us. You, who have stayed up with us until we finished our projects, monitored our scores on the exams and quizzes, and most probably, the ones who made sure that we look our best tonight, on one of the most memorable days of our lives. Thank you for all your guidance and infinite love for us. To show our gratitude and appreciation, we will do our very best to live with your
expectations. Entering college will mean more sacrifices and more spending on your part. But we promise that your hard-earned money will not go into waste. As we embark into a new chapter in our lives there will be a lot more challenges, maybe even bigger ones, but with you on our side we believe we can do it.
Of course, we also owe these wonderful memories to our teachers. Thanks to them, we were able to experience the hardships and happiness, the ups and downs, of a student’s life. Thank you to our teacher who taught us how to manage our own business through endless selling activities, to make a dustpan and our mini-bookshelf, and play Lemonade Tycoon. Thank you to our teacher who continually reminds us to put God first in our lives. Thank you to our teacher who taught us the mind-wrecking computer programming and for her constant support to our batch. Although PE is my weakest subject, I still want to thank our teacher who encouraged me to broaden my skills.
And
thank you to our teacher who molded us into disciplined and responsible citizens. We’ll never forget your advice: “Aim for the sky, so that when you fall, you fall on the roof, not on the ground.” On behalf of my batch mates we promise that you’ll be proud of us four or five or ten years from now when you can say “That’s my student before at St. Vincent De Paul!”
To the handsome gentlemen and gorgeous ladies of my batch, thank you for being part of this joyful chapter in my life. Most of us have known each other for almost a decade now, and we’ve seen how each of us has matured from the naughty kids we were, to the reliable young adult we are right now. Through the years, we have formed a strong bond of friendship among us. Here, we found friends, best friends, close friends, and special friends. We’ve earned nicknames in class that we’ll miss when we enter college. I bet many
of you will miss the names DC, Bau, MC, Krunka, and many more; but personally, I’ll miss the name “Tati”. From now on, we may be far from each other, but I believe communication won’t be that hard. Anyway, that’s why Facebook and YM are there, right? In fact, just hours before this ceremony, my inbox was flooded with group messages from you, my batch mates. I would like to quote one of those messages to share it with everybody. It says: “This is not yet goodbye. Magpapalit lang tayo ng school and once again start from being a freshman.” This just proves how strong our friendship is, and I wish I will still continue to receive GMs even after our graduation. But seriously, after this day, each of us will start taking a different path, but I hope, none of us will forget that once in our lives, we belonged to a batch of high school students who dreamed, believed and survived! Let us show to all who are present here tonight, our friends, our teachers and our parents that we are responsible young adults who are determined to finish what we have started. Let us prove that we are really “products of Saint Vincent De Paul College” – a World Class Filipino. And maybe, by the time that we get together again, some of us are already doctors, or engineers, or maybe a teacher. So I want to take this opportunity to once again thank Saint Vincent De Paul College for nurturing our minds with the kind of education that will guide us in our real world adventure in the future.
To God who has the greatest influence in my life, I would like to thank Him for allowing me to stand in front of you now. I owe everything to Him, who I am now and what I will become. With this I would like to end my speech with a message from the Bible, which I hope will guide each of us throughout our journey in life. It is written at Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of God is the
start of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Most Holy One is what understanding is.” Once again, thank you and good evening.
