The Birthday Speech :D

Here is this boring, lengthy and thoughtless speech that I delivered on our Graduation Day, which is surprisingly coincidentally, also my birthday. :D The sound system is rumbly, and my speech is long; the perfect ingredients for a public speaking disaster. HAHAHA. Anyways, this is it! :D

One bitter fact: High school ends today.

To the school administrators and officials, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Prof. Leo Vicente Tago, our high school principal, Mr. Carlito S. Antonio, to the parents, relatives and teachers behind today’s success stories and specially, to the celebrities, my fellow graduates, good evening.

I remember myself, with little care on how I look and standing one foot shorter of my height today, walking in a corridor I have never walked before, entering a campus that is a complete stranger to me. I was a fresh elementary graduate, and it was my first day at Systems Plus. I was oblivious of many things back then, and every day after it was like discovering a new and exciting world. Looking back, I thought to myself on how far I have gone and on how much my stay has changed me. Time really flies fast, and look now, 16 grading periods, 12 field trips, 120 flag ceremonies, and 800 school days after, we are at our graduation day. There are so many memories to treasure, so many mishaps to forget, so many challenges that we have overcome, and yes, our book of life has been filled with colorful chapters.

There is always that one point in our lives when we are at the peak of enjoyment, when we are at the part that we are most contented, and then all of a sudden, all of those comforts will be taken away. Just when you seem to go with the flow of the current and to show your big smile every day, that’s when the tables turn against you. In a blink of an eye, the light that once brightened our days has run out of its glimmer. Well, fellow students, this is graduation – the event when we have to leave the home we have dwelt on for four years and the people we considered our families.

To tell you, this is the truth. The friends that we have opened up so much for a long time, all of a sudden, will have to go on separate ways. The campus you enter for four years, the santol trees, the personalities inside the faculty room, the canteens and the air conditioned classrooms, aren’t you going to miss them all? Have you ever thought that this will be the last day that you’ll ever sit at the Multi-Purpose Hall, the last day that you’ll be climbing up the school corridors, and the last day that you’ll be called as high school students? Moments ago, we all received our diplomas, the sole paper that proves that we are out of our high school lives. I can recall my classmates say, “I wish that high school is five years.”

To our parents, wow, congratulations. It is another feather to your trophy that you have pushed us here today to finish high school. It is a big deal for you to see us wearing togas, transferring our tassels from left to right and receiving our diplomas with that big smile on our faces. Your efforts have proven to be fruitful and here in front of you are the products. Thank you our dear parents.

To the faculty members, you have watched us grow and develop. You saw us first as young boys and girls, and now, you are seated here, witnessing our exit in this institution as ladies and gentlemen. We never thought that alphabets can be inserted in mathematics, making it more difficult, that science involves the world’s magic and moreover, that life is a wonderful journey that we have to travel on with values. To our teachers, a big thanks.

High school is a chapter in our lives we will never ever forget. This is the period when we experienced to show our bitterest tears and our happiest smiles. High school is when we had our first love, our first quarrel, our first true best friends, and for some, our first kiss. It is when we develop our inner selves, when we mature and develop a sense of identity. High school, I shall say, is one thing that we never wanted to end.

True, I might be leaving with flying colors, with the best birthday gifts ever, but I am also leaving behind things that have made me complete and the people that are worth more than all the awards and certificates there is.

To my fellow graduates, we are leaving high school. But let us not forget to remember the lessons that we have learned in the four years that had passed. Let us always remember the persons that had been with us in everything, the teachers that caused us little suffering, but moreover, greater learning, the classmates who have shared the joy and the pain of school life, the parents who have sacrificed a lot and the institution that you entered as nobody and you are leaving as somebody. Let us not fail our alma mater, let us live up to its mission and vision. May we be the competitive, innovative and values-oriented graduates that this institution wishes to produce. Step up, be the change, and show that SPCnians are the catalysts of progress and the positive movers of today’s society.

Let us also not forget the main reason behind our triumph – God. He guided us to our victory and He has been with us all this time. He blessed us with intelligence to finish high school and he has given us strength to hurdle every challenge. He showed to us that all things are possible through Him. We bring back all the glory and praises to you our Lord.

The light of high school that we have been so used to may lose its glimmer, but hey, we are just about to ignite another spark. Who knows, the light of college might be greater, and it may lead us to exciting new paths.

To my batchmates, good luck on our road ahead and congratulations! True, there is this one point in our lives when we are at the peak of enjoyment and it will suddenly end. To tell you, nothing will end today, everything shall be remembered, and shall live on our hearts and minds forever. No chapter of our lives will end, it will go on and on we are just going to add another chapter on our ever-thickening book of our lives.

Well, fellow students, this is graduation, the event when we have to bravely enter a new world, and not to leave, but to bring the old world of high school with us.

The bitter fact again, high school ends today? No. Nothing will end; everything will continue as long as we treasure it.

To everyone, thank you very much and have a lovely evening.