While browsing over my folders I bumped into the file that contained my speech. OMG…Nostalgia!!! I might as well share this to you guys… and oh! Congratulations to the new graduates of 2008 and break a leg in whatever endeavor you are about to partake! w00t!
Mckhoii’s Valedictory Speech
In the real world, dreams do not come equipped with the magic wands of Cinderella stories
To our most reverend bishop of Tagum City –Wilfredo D. Manlapas, D.D.,S.T.D., members of the SMC board of trustees, school president – S. Ma. Fe D. Gerodias, RVM, Dean of college – S. Ma. Preciosa M. Rusiana, RVM, Associate Deans of the different programs, members of the faculty and non-teaching personnel, honorable guests, beloved parents, co-graduates, and friends, an exhilarating and magnificent day to you!
Four years ago, we gathered here in St. Mary’s College for education. Today marks a milestone in that pursuit, a culmination of four years of learning, growth, and shared memories. At such, times, it is appropriate to reflect on years past, to examine what we have done and what we have learned. Today, I am charged with that difficult task, and I would like to thank the school for this precious privilege and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stand before my peers and reflect in our time together.
w00t!
Thinking of graduation day always gives me the creeps! Paradoxical emotions always stir my mind, soul, and spirit – happiness and sadness, excitement and anxiety. We are happy because we can now put an end to all those infuriating and frustrating quizzes, and other school-related stressors. We finally reap what we’ve sown for four years and seize the awards we know we deserve. That’s got to be lots of sowing! On the other hand, we are disheartened because we know that we will be leaving some people behind and be separated from very special people whose hearts are close to ours. We will miss those fun activities, peer-gimmicks, neologisms and weird talks that we may never ever do again as we move on with our lives.
If my memory serves me right, it was during my kindergarten graduation day when on this very stage I declared this very famous clichéd line to the whole world, “When I grow up, I want to be a doctor”. It was the beginning of my bumpy, sometimes smooth, trip to education and life. The word “commencement”, being a synonym of “beginning” or “start”, marks the opening of a new chapter of our lives. From kindergarten, we commenced grade school to high school, and to college.
I am not a doctor of medicine, although I know I look like one (haha), but now I stand here before you all as a nurse graduate and as soon as I win my license, I know that my dream of being an angel for the sick and an adept member of the health team is fulfilled. As we confidently hold our shining shimmering and elegantly framed diplomas, let us think of what awaits us as we cross the portals to the other side of reality – the competitive, iniquity-packed and fierce outside world.
No man is indeed an island. There are so many people whom we owe what we have and what we are now. As long as I am still able to inhale and exhale, I will forever acclaim the part of which these people have played in my life wherever I am and whatever I will become in the future.
To my Classmates and RLE group mates from preclinical exposure to head nursing concepts who were together with me in my struggles, ordeals, and obstacles in both the community and in the hospital during my search for knowledge and skills, and during the course of helping clients and their families.
To my best friends: Alexis – my idol, brother and source of energy, Lani – my sentry, adviser, and advocate, Caesar – my clown, dictionary, and partner in crime, and the rest of my closest friends who have been with me through thick and thin, and will continue to be with me until the end of time no matter what.
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