To our School President, Dr. Salome S. Carino, to our School Vice President, Dr. Elena C.
Ariola, to our College Dean, Dr. Cesar B. Malenab, to our Dear Instructors, and Service
Personnels, Proud Parents, my fellow Graduates, ladies and gentlemen , A pleasant Morning
to each and everyone./
Aristotle, a timeless philosopher once said, “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the
result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution;/ it represents the wise
choice of many alternatives- choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” /Some may not
believe in destiny because they consider it as an imagination only./ True destiny is met
when there is passion, love, and commitment to what you do where in the end result is
excellence and success./
One of the famous quotations that we have known from
the revered Lao Tzu says, “ a Journey to a thousands miles
begins with a single step.” we are all gathered her today not
just because of the fact that we are graduates but because
we took the courage of taking one step forward closer to
our foreseen destiny, becoming future heroes of this
country and we did not rely on our comfort zones and wait
for miracles to happen.
We manifested bravery in undergoing the rigorous process towards
this most awaited day, our graduation. Our presence here today is
not an accident. It was the product of our persistence,
determination and inner motivation to achieve what we always have
dreamed of “SUCCESS”. Some may have faltered and almost gave up
along the way but it never hindered anybody here today to choose
to fight for our purest intentions of becoming future professionals of
our beloved nation.
I can deeply relate my experience before I was able to make to this day and stand
in front of you to deliver this speech that I hope will inspire you. Some may have
said I am too old already but I needed no validation from anyone because I made
the choice in taking the risk of stopping from school for the mean time. Giving way
to my younger siblings for them to be able to study and pursue their careers. I took
courage to stop schooling for four years because I wanted to help them and my
parents. This four years of not staying within the premises of a university caused so
much pain and gloom to me, but I took a heart because I do not want to be
considered as a failure. I strived and did my best that’s why I’m here today.
My experience will never be affected by any judgment coming from other people. I am standing in front of
all of you today as a living proof that age and status in life do not determine what you can be and who will
really become in the near future, they are not deterrents to your deepest passion towards excellence and
success. As we uncover another page of our lives and take another step moving forward to our ambitions.
May I request everyone to stand and clap for ourselves, especially to our parents who endured all the
emotional, mental, spiritual and financial pain just to send us to school. /To all parents, thank you very
much, / we know that the world would not be enough to reciprocate all your efforts in taking care of us
but we offer you our diplomas as a solid proof of our genuine interest to help you. Of course, this could
have not been possible also if it weren’t for our professors and school personnel who stood with us when
we had some hard times while in the course of filling our minds with the necessary knowledge that we
need in our field of specialization.
Thank you for all the nerve- wracking requirements and
challenges you have imposed to us. Indeed, they all contributed
to our journey which made us more motivated and challenged to
push through on handling our ambitions in life. Thank you for
guiding us every time we needed guidance and help in our
studies.
There is no easy way to success, don’t let success chase you because you
should be the one chasing success. Life is an unending journey of acquiring
knowledge and experience. Before I leave the four corners of this stage. Let
me leave an important and friendly reminder from Sir Martin Luther King Jr. “
if you can not fly, then run, if you can not run, then walk, if you can not walk,
then crawl, but by all means, keep moving. Keep moving on our journey
towards success and excellence.
Thank you very much.
