MY MESSAGE AS GUEST SPEAKER OF CALAUAG

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GRADUATION 2017

POI June Dence M. Penaflor

My respect to Almighty God for bringing us here, to all our happy

graduates, to our proud parents, to the Schools Division
Superintendent, ____________, to the faculty and staff of Caluag
Elementary School headed by ______________, to the Barangay
Councils under the regime of Hon. P.B Ma, Corazon Penaflor,
visitors, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

After ___ years of being vagabond in the real world, it is really

good to be back here in my Alma Mater, Caluag Elementary
School which I consider as one of my comfort zones.

Time really unfolds swiftly. Yesteryears are gone like yesterdays

but memories are there to cherish. My elementary years are still
fresh in my mind. It seems that I was in Grade 1 last Monday. I can
still feel the burning rays of the sun every time we are digging the
vegetable gardens; plowing the said to make it appealing to eyes
of our teachers. Who will forget the arguments with our
classmates in raising the flag and in leading the Panatang
Makabayan? I can still smell the stink of my sweat after playing
takbuhan. I tried to collect friends para maugmahon pag oras
ng recess lalo na sa oras nin pagkawat My elementary years are
not just a kaleidoscope but as colorful as rubber bands (lastiko).
Who would not miss the elementary years? I think no one else will
answer he really not is.

My battle cry in this talk right now is just simple. I will start it by
reminiscing and revisiting my timeline when I was in elementary.
_____(month and year), I entered here at the age of ____. Mam
______ was my teacher in Grade 1. I was so young at that time and
I never knew the significance and importance of education. Maybe
it is just normal as a happy-go-lucky-child. All in my head was
playing instead of schooling. One of the most exciting times as a
grade school student is the time of recess. But during my time, I
was never excited. Maybe youll be asking why? I will never be
excited because I do not have any penny on my hand, I do not
have any coins in my pocket. I cannot buy those colorful junk
foods; I cannot eat those tasty toron, hotcake and pintos. Pag
may isang piso naman, ang ipapabili lang ay tinapay. We are

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required to be in our house during lunchtime, to eat kanin with or
without ulam.

Year ___, I was in Grade 2. My teacher was the late

_________________. May her/his soul rest in peace right now with
God in heaven. I found this year very memorable. Nag-iba ang
ihip ng hangin nung nasa Grade 2 ako. It has been my turning
point. Kahit ako yong tipo ng estudyante na naakasimple, hindi
palaimik pero palakaibigan but I tried my best to learn our lessons
dahil yan ang inututuro ng akin Mama na mag aral ng mabuti
dahil ito ang tangi na kahit kelan ay hindi kayang manakaw ng
iba. It was a miracle for me that even I cannot explain how it
happened na nalamapasan ko ang mga trials sa buhay kahit isa
ako ay napaka inosente sa panahon iyon. From then, my
perception towards education, towards life has been changed. I
already started building dreams at that age. I cannot forget my
first dream is to become a scientist. Maybe because my favorite
subject that time is Science. But later on, I realize, this course is
impossible to reach; this dream is so ambitious. This course is
expensive. Wala nga akong baon, maging scientist pa kaya.

Year_____, I dreamed to become a Doctor of Medicine. I shifted

my dream from being a scientist to a more realistic one, to
become a doctor. But still, this is quite expensive. Idealistic lang
talaga pag bata. Wala namang bayad ang mangarap, kaya lubos-
lubusin na lang natin.

In Grade 6, I dreamed to become an astronaut. I wanted to be

like Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin, to orbit and see the outer
space. But again and again. This dream is impossible considering
that there is no university in the Philippines offering the said
course.

Who would have thought that I become an SPOI right now well in
fact I dreamed to become a scientist, a doctor, or an astronaut
and sometimes I dreamed for other professions. In our lives, there
will be several surprises. Even if we plan ahead, we cannot expect
that everything will happen the same as our plan. We have to
expect a variance. Do not expect that everything will go through
as plan.

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But I realized that dreaming/to dream is important. We should
have a dream, at least one, as a minimum. Dreaming is
significant. Dreaming is valuable, even if there is no assurance
that we can achieve all of them, because the moment we dream
something for ourselves or for our families, we will realize that
there will be reasons of our existence here on earth. If we dream,
we have something to look forward to; we have something to
achieve. To dream is to find our direction; which way shall we
take. By dreaming those impossible dreams, we can realize that
there will be realities that we have to face. Graduates, pupils, I
encourage you to dream. Libre lang mangarap.

But we have not to forget the most important thing of our

existence which is to have faith and love with God. Faith, love and
service towards God should be put above our dreams. We have to
put God first on everything, and then everything will be set in
place. We should never compromise our faith to God for the sake
of material needs in this temporal world. Sa lahat ng pangrapa at
ginagawa natin kahit bahay, lagi natin uunahin si God. Sa ating
magulang dapat lagi tayo magbibigay ng respect dahil
nagpakahirap sila upang mapaayos at makamtan natin an gating
pangarap sa buhay. You will always feel that there is something
lacking without God.

Para sa inyong mga batang nagsipagtapos, mahalin nyo ang pag-

aaral nyo, study hard but enjoy it. Masarap mag-aral lalo na kung
masaya ka.

Para sa magulang na narito maging po mga lolo, lola at o mga

tiya o tiyohin o sinumanng nagpaaral sa inyo, saludo po ako sa
inyo.

Para sa mga guro na narito isa pong pagpupugay ang ibibigay ko

sa inyo dahil sa paghubog nyo sa mga batang ito na mga
nagsipagtapos.

Kaya mga bata gusto ko kayong bigyan ng pagkakataon

mapasalamatan ang inyong mga magulang at guro, maari bang
magsipagtayo kayo ngayon.

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Mga bata repeat after me Mahal naming mga magulang,
salamat po sa supporta, tiwala at pagmamahal.

Palapakan po natin ang inyong mga magulang..

Manatili po kayo mga nakatayo, upang pasalamatan niyo ng

inyong mga guro, again repeat after me Salamat po ng marami
sa paghubog sa amin at walang sawang pagtuturo sa amin upang
maunawaan naming ang mundong amin gingalawan at salamat
sa inyong pasensya at pagtiytiyaga.

Palapakan po natin ang ating mga magulang inyong mga guro..

Maari na kayong magsiupo mga bata. Maraming salamat..

I will end my speech with the following passage: Yesterday I was

clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise,
so I am changing myself.

Thank you!