I stand here before you not as a valedictorian.

I am here not as someone who

received the highest academic award. I am here not as someone with the best
speaking skills. Truth be told, I never expected to be in this position. Today, I
stand here as an ordinary student who has mistakes, who has been judged by
other, and who has been in struggled to survive the college life. I was once like
you, nadapa pero bumangon. Still, I believe, I am here for a reason.

Given an opportunity to be here is truly an honor, however, making this speech

had been challenging for me as I found myself responsible in delivering a good
and meaningful piece. With so much on my shoulders, allow me to express this
through a heart of a PNUAN.

It’s really hard to sum up the past four years in the University. But for sure, we
are all in mixed emotions that tonight, we are in the midst of our joy of memories
and the excitement of our future. Yes! We’ve been patiently waiting for this day.
But, It seems yesterday when we were just creating bittersweet memories -and
now, I know that we want to slow it down, and just want to enjoy our last
fugacious moments.

Do you still remember your significant experiences here in the University? I

guess, It was something that we would never forget. Who would have thought
that we would be a real quick actor and actress because of a video or film
requirement in some courses, a dancer because of PE requirements , and a
writer because of dozen reflection papers to make. Can you still reminisce the
things when we were taking courses in different areas of TLE? Yung makakarinig
ka na lang ng “Magteteacher naman tayo pero bakit ganito ginagawa natin,
kailangan magdukal, kailangan magtanim at kailangan pang mag-alaga ng isda”
at mayroon ka pang maririnig na “Hindi naman HRM ang kinukuha natin pero
kailangan nating magluto at may pa-table setting at skirting pa”. We also
experienced to become an instant “Make-up Artist and beautician” because of
beauty care course. Aside from these experiences, we also learned to speak
words and sentences in Bahasa Indonesia. Remember “Apa kabar?, Baik-baik,
Terimah kaseh”, are you still familiar with those words? I’m certain that you are,
because those are our favorite words, right? Kidding aside, we really had a lot of
experiences to remember in the four corners of this University although there
were side comments and reactions. However, at the end of day, we realized that
is for us, that we need to experience those things so we will have something to
give and to share with our students.

Bringing back the memories of our practicing teaching. I’m pretty sure that it
was the most memorable part of our journey because it plays an important
role in our preparation as would-be teacher. Our practice teaching granted us
to experience the actual teaching and learning environment. It provided us
an opportunity to become socialized into the teaching profession. Also, It
became a clincher of whether we will pursue teaching profession or we will
shift into another direction. Furthermore, during our practice teaching, I have
had the opportunity to reflect on students’ behavior.Tama nga pala ang sabi
nila na ang isang paaralan ay parang isang kagubatan na matatagpuan ang
ibat-ibang uri ng hayop, may mabangis at may maamo. What I am trying to
say is, every student in a school has its own characteristics. They differ in
physical appearance, cognitive capacity, social class, and emotional being.
And as a future teachers, it is a challenge for us to deal with them. So, what
should we do? First, Know your students. Second, embrace student’s
diversity-not just diverse talents, but diversity in race, religion, gender, sexual
orietation, languange, socio-economic backgrounds and even academic
readiness. And lastly, promote learning through diverse teaching strategies
that will suit to the learning style of every student. Through these,I believe
that we can achieve an inclusive and responsive education for all.

Moreover, as we will leave all today and move on to our next battle, I want to
ask you something, can belief make you do anything? Let me tell you an
analogy, ang isang ta
ong natutong lumangoy ay hindi lang basta n’ya sinabi na naniniwala siya sa
sarili niya na kaya n’ya maglangoy tapos bigla na lang siyang tumalon sa
dagat. It’s not like that, because of you do that untrained, you are going to
die. Just like in our next battle, we need to go there with enough preparation
and weapons to use. I would like to remind you that the power of belief has
its consequence, it needs to be combined with skills. Hindi pwedeng susugod
tayo sa isang laban na hindi tayo handa. We need to be trained and be
prepared. So, when the battle comes, we can be confident that we can win it,
that we can pass and top the board exam.

And before we close this chapter in our lives and start the next one, it is rightly
important to express gratitude to all the people that have been there for us along
the way. First and foremost, to Almighty God, for granting everything I need and
for being the rootcause of everything I have. To my family, for their untiring
support, financially,morally and spiritually, Nanay, Tatay, Ate, Kuya, maraming-
maraming salamat. Ang karangalang ito ay para sa inyo. To our Alma Mater,
Philippine Normal University South Luzon Campus, thank you for nurturing us to
become the best that we could be, maraming salamat po Ma’am and Sir. To my
friends through thick and thin, G-force, thank you very much. I will surely miss the
old days. To the one who always got my back, thank you for inspiring me
everyday. And to the all unseen things who have been part of this wonderful
journey, thank you. I am blessed to have you all.

And, as we pass through the gate of this university, our real battle begins. All we
need to do is to believe in ourselves, build our beliefs, and believe in God to win
the battle.

Again, Congratulations Batch 2018. Terimah Kasih!

.