To our Guest of honor ___________, the school administration headed by

Dr. Gatawa, parents, teachers, staff, visitors, friends, school mates, my dear co-
graduates, ladies and gentlemen…a very pleasant afternoon!

Time flies so quickly that it seems hard to believe that we’re right at this
point – our Graduation day. Six years in basic education have passed and they’re
not easy. But today we are looking at our breakthroughs. We’re all here, and our
hearts rejoice because we have succeeded facing all the challenges in our
elementary years.

It is a milestone for us, now we’re ready for quest to other heights. That’s
why I am grateful because I have been surrounded by great people who have
helped to make what we are now. Looking back to the first time I stepped into
this school, I could picture myself as a very young, shy, and ignorant boy, so
skeptical about my new environment. Although I was weak and inadequate then,
the constant trainings and prodding I received have made me to become a better
person than I used to be. Now, we feel that we are bigger, stronger, and bolder
to step to a new pace in our lives – the high school.

Before we finally leave our Alma Mater, let me take this chance to
acknowledge the ones who have helped to form us for many years.

I want to express my gratitude first, to my parents. Thank you for your big
love for me, for taking care of me, for giving me all that I need to the best that
you can do, for being there for me in every school event since I was small just to
show me how much you want to support me, and for explaining to me a lot of
things that I do not understand. Mama, Papa, thank you and I love you.

Second, to the PTS teachers and staff, my adviser: Teacher Marvin; my

subject teachers: Teacher Rodel, Teacher Beth, Teacher Ella, and Teacher Sheena;
my former advisers: Teacher Belma, Teacher Marjay, Teacher Romilyn, Teacher
Karen, Teacher Jelai ,and Teacher Esme; especially to our dear principal, Teacher
Manding; thank you for your hard work and for your patience on us since we
were little boys and girls, when you exert effort so we could learn the things we
find hard to understand, when you have to assist us in our breaktime, when you
have to help us in the toilet, when you clean our mess, when you have to give
extra time to look over us while our parents are still not around. We know you
have given so much sacrifice for us, you have cared for us like the way our parents
do while we’re in your guidance so you could give to us the opportunity to be
trained and be at our best.

Next to my dear classmates and to my friends: Abi, Nicole, Hajin, Mark,

Godwin, KC and Alver, thanks for the company during difficult and happy days and
of course the friendship. I will surely miss the times that we’re all together.

Last but most importantly, thanks to God for giving us the gift of wisdom,
the provisions for all our needs, and the blessing to experience many good things
far greater than what our parents had. Glory and praise to Him!

Aside from my heartfelt gratitude, I have one more important thing left to
say before I finish off my speech. Our graduation theme says “Unity in diversity.”
I know that each of us is different from another. None of a person’s ability is
equally the same as the other. But I encourage you, my fellow graduates to carry
the legacy our beloved Alma Mater and parents have instilled in us. Let us
become one, united in our pursuit for wisdom, until one day, when we go back
home to our Alma Mater, we can wave the banner of testimony to many other
fellow young people.

Let me sing a few lines from the song entitled “Next in Line.”

“So I sing this song to all of my age, for these are the questions we’ve got to
face, for in this cycle that we call life, we are the ones who are next in line…”

Let us not forget that we are the next in line. Our National Hero, Dr. Jose P.
Rizal once prophesized that the youths are the hope of our nation. We hope that
this will not be an empty word. Let us dream bigger and do better for ourselves,
our families, our communities, and our nation. Let us become the fulfillment of
this word, in our lifetime.

Congratulations to all of us, Mabuhay and more power, PTS-CAS!