Graduation Speech (Buklod Palad National High School- March 31, 2016)

It has always been my pleasure to share my story to other people. Specially to those young ones who are also in the same predicaments as I was in. Two weeks before this event, my former teacher called me asking if could be their resource speaker for the graduation. I did not think much. I felt the excitement to be used again by God to inspire other people. I committed immediately. Buklod Palad National High School was formerly known as Maligaya National High School-Annex which was my alma mater.

Theme: “ Kabataan mula sa K-12, tagapagdala ng kaunlaran sa bansang Pilipinas”.

"It is such a great pleasure for me to back to my beloved alma mater. Almost 6 years have passed and I feels great to see you all again. To our school principal Sir Macario Cordova, to the faculty and staff, to the parents, guests, students and most importantly to the students who completed Junior high school, good morning! Naimbag nga agsapa kadakayo amin!

Our theme for today is a very timely and significant one. As we enter a new era in our country’s educational system, we see a great bright future as stated in our theme “Kabataan mula sa K-12, tagapagdala ng kaulanran sa bansang Pilipinas”. Yes it is true, more than anything else, we the young people of this country are the hope and we are expected to be the catalyst of prosperity and change. But the big question that follows is that HOW CAN WE DO IT? Young as we are, do we have to capability to bring such to this country?

The answer is a big big YES! We can bring progress and change to this country by pursuing our DREAMS! When we strive hard to achieve our life goals, we do not just build a good future for ourselves and our family, but more than that, we are helping our beloved country become a better place to live in. A good life does not come by accident, it is a product of having a dream and striving hard to achieve it.

The next question is that, how can we achieve our goals or dreams? I am here to talk about some ideas that I can share with you which I believe worked for me. As I have said, I also came from this community. We also used to walk the rough and dusty roads from home going to this school. You are very lucky now because the roads are now concrete.Just like you, I remember working during weekends and vacations in order to have money to spend at school. Having this in mind, I hope you see that I am no different from you. What worked for me will somehow help you as well if you listen to my advises.

In order for us to achieve our goals, the formula is simple; we need to take care of three important things- the MIND, BODY and SPIRIT.

The MIND

· Try your best to learn new things everyday- What came to be the most useful habit for me while I was in college up until now is that I don’t let the day pass without learning a new thing. Whatever it is, make sure you engage and explore new things. In my case, I love reading. In my notebook, I write the significant lessons I had for the day so that I will not forget. You can try other things that suit you. As long as you make it a habit to add new insights and ideas to yourself every day.

· Be Positive- This is very important. If you manage to become positive most of the time, a lot of miracles happen. You will realize that the things you seem negative actually have bright sides, it’s only a matter of perspective. When we are positive or optimistic, our minds are able to think creative in the midst of circumstances. We will eventually see that all things that happen do have a purpose and they are there to teach us lessons.

· Manage your time- Your time is the most important commodity you have. You can’t afford to keep using them in things that are not significant and will not cause any good thing to you. To manage your time properly, keep track of your priorities, if what you are about to do has nothing to do with your priorities, then better think about it again. You can always use your time in things that help you grow as a person. I don’t need to tell you about the things that you should not do, you already know about them.

· Set goals- Goals give direction to our actions. A boat that has no set destination will be swayed by the wind and will not get anywhere. That is same with us, if we are not doing things on purpose and with goals, then our destination will not be clear. You will find yourself lost in the worst case. Setting goals will help us get to where we want much faster. Think of this, how much faster can a car go to its destination through a zigzag road than in a straight road?

· Don’t be afraid to fail- If I want you to remember something from my message, I want this to be it. Everything I did as a student was done with the possibility of failing and I did not let it bother me. In everything you do, always remember do not be afraid to fail. We already managed to prevail from the hardships of life, that is our advantage. Whatever challenge comes, we are strong because we know we have gone through more tough things. Keeping that in mind, you should no longer worry about failure. If you go and ask those who are successful in there careers, you will hear stories of failures like you have never imagined. Those who are not afraid to fail have hundred times more opportunity to succeed than those who are not brave enough to go out there and face their fears.

The HEART

· Get away from vices- This is an advice I don’t want you to take for granted. As on older brother for all of you, I say this with love and concern. I am proud to tell you this because I not guilty of it. If you try to add any vice to your system, I will say ENJOY NOW, SUFFER LATER. Don’t miss the wonderful opportunity to live your life to the full. If you start doing vices, hundred percent you will suffer the consequences, not just you, but your family. Imagine spending all you earnings into your hospital bill- that would be a complete waste of time and effort for you.

· Sleep early and wake up early- This is a great habit for you. If you wake up early, you earn more time to learn and be good at what you do. Think like this, if you wake up at 6 am in the morning, then it means you have 4 hours of advantage to study, train or practice that those who wake up at 10 am. Sleeping late in the evening is not advisable. Don’t destroy your body clock. Just remember, while you are sleeping and relaxing, there are people who are learning and becoming better than you are.

The SPIRIT

· Engage into the right relationships- Listen to this! A lot of you think this is the right time to engage into romantic relationships. I want to tell you it’s not! In this point in time, the relationships you should start to build are the relationships that help you grow and learn to be a better person. Not the relationships that teach you to cut classes, party in the night, do vices and many more. Keep this in mind; if your friend is inviting you to do things that you know are bad, then he is not a friend, but rather an enemy! Remember, this age of your is the most crucial time for your personal development. Invest in yourself by learning as much as you can and understanding you own self not spending time understanding others and making them happy in the expense of your own growth.

· Listen to your parents- A lot of young people today think that being a teenager means they are no longer subject to their parents advices. They are thinking their parents don’t understand them. I want to ask you not to be like them. As you know, your parents are the only people who will do anything to keep you safe. Believe me, even though they lived in a different era, their wisdom still has great relevance up to today.

· Don’t forget to pray- Praying has made me conquer the challenges I went through. When you pray, you are talking to the most powerful and ever knowing of all. You are asking Him to get involved into your life and when He does, you will not worry of anything anymore. If He was able to create everything around you, how come He will not provide for your needs? That’s how God loves us. We just need to go near to Him in prayer and ask. The hands of God have worked clearly in my life. I couldn’t imagine standing in front of you today if God did not help me through everything. I want you to remember this, “Success without God is the most miserable failure”.

Those are the things you need to take care of in order to reach your dreams, if you promise to yourself that you will remember what I told you, I am sure they will be helpful. Now I want to share with you some characteristics of a dream that I want you to keep in mind:

· A dream is HARD- If it is easy, then all people must have it. But it’s not, so you better decide today that you will give what it takes to achieve your dreams. Keep in mind that what is important if you are going through tough times is the person you become after. When you go through hard times, you become stronger, you develop faith and you build a more resilient character so that when you wake up in the morning, you will see a different person than who you were before. If by chance you encounter such challenges again, you will be confident that you will overcome because you already did before and it is a lot easier this time. Our maturity realizes as we go into challenging times.

· A dream is LIMITLESS- A dream cannot be limited. According to a famous saying “ Shoot for the moon, so that when you miss, you will land among the stars”. Do not restrict yourself into what is common, be different among others.

· But it is WORTH IT- The journey might be uncertain and hard, but as soon as you get to your goal, you will realize everything is worth it. I can’t wait for you to get there and experience what I am talking about.

To end my message, I want to leave something to the parents as well.

Dear Parents! More than the material things we provide to our children, I hope you also invest into them the encouragement and love they will require in their journey. When they fall, may you always find the patience to guide them again and help them get back into their knees. In this community where we live in, it is a common norm then when our children commit mistakes, we stop supporting them and ask them to rather go find a job or marry- “agasawa ka langenen!”. My prayer is that we as parents will do our best to provide our children with the financial, emotional and spiritual support no matter what.

To the students, I want to leave this quote “ The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” Thank you very much and God bless us all!"